Friends - The First Step to Happiness
by Kaiyo No Umi
Summary: CPU Candidate Uni has been given her first Quest, a Quest she can do without Noire. However, out of sisterly over protectiveness, Noire's given Uni a partner This Quest is a huge chance for Uni to shine, all she needs to do is get the Quest done and go home to show off to Noire. Huge thanks to Gigarot for being a beta reader. *Part One of the Happiness Series*
1. Quest

Quest

* * *

A young girl, wearing a black dress with a milky blue lining, and an unconnected belt with a bow at the back of the belt while a button-like circle connected her dress with her collar, walked into Lastation's Guild. On her arms were long fingerless black gloves with milky blue coloring at the top with a similar scheme on her boots. Strapped to the left side of her belt piece is small electronic device that has a small Kupokitty icon surround by a white circle. Some of her hair was worn in pigtails tied down with light blue and black ribbons while the rest of it fell down to her chest.

The girl looked around the inside of the Guild, seeing holographic screens of Quest Logs or Completion forms zoom across the spacious room. A firm hand planted itself and the girl turned around to see an older girl similar to her, but her clothing carried more detail and she had twintails instead of pigtails.

"Are you excited, Uni?" The older girl smiled as she watched her younger sister nod enthusiastically.

"Of course I am, I'm gonna go on a Quest! All by myself!" The older girl, Noire scratched her cheek as Uni straightened herself. "I can't believe that Big Sis is so proud of my skills that she'd let handle a Quest on my own!" Uni turned away from her older sister and slightly skipped over to lady at the front desk.

"About that… Uni…" However, the smaller girl didn't seem to hear her. "H-Hey!?"

"Excuse me, I'd like to see what Quests are available." Looking up from her computer, the generic desk lady smiled at Uni.

"Ah, let me- Oh! Lady Uni and Lady Noire!" Flushing at being given the title of 'Lady', Uni lowered her head as Noire came up from behind. "I've already prepared the Quest for you as you've requested, Lady Noire." Blinking, Uni looked at the lady at the desk, then to her sister, then back again.

"Eh?" Huffing, Noire put her hands on her hips.

"If you just listened to me for just a second, I was going to tell that I already picked out your Quest for you." Uni's pigtails drooped for a second, a visible frown on her face.

"Oh…" Raising her eyebrow, Noire put on a knowing smile.

"I mean, I have to watch over my little sister somehow. I don't know what I'd do if I found out you took a Quest that was out of your league." Surprised, Uni moved closer to her sister, placing one of her palms on her chest.

"Out of my league!? Noire, I'm a CPU Candidate!" Noire shook her head.

"Just because you're a CPU Candidate, doesn't mean that you can handle anything by yourself." Uni shrunk as her sister reprimanded. The desk lady felt awkward at witnessing the argument in front of her and reached under her desk, pulling out a small disk and placing it on the desk.

"Um…" The Lastation sisters turned their attention to the attendant. "The Quest…"

"Oh, thank you." Noire took the disk and pressed the center of the disk. A light emitted from the place that Noire touched and the light produced a holographic screen. "Mhm… Alright, that's exactly what I expected." Turning to the attendant, Noire nodded and handed disk to Uni. "Hold on, I need to make a phone call."

Nodding as Noire stepped away, Uni stared at the screen.

* * *

 **Quest:**

 _I wanna go to the beach, but there are too many monsters! Someone please get rid of them for me! - Beach Lover_

 **Location:**

 _Waverunner Coast_

 **Clear Condition:**

 _Defeat 500 enemies_

 **Enemies:**

 _Dogoo_

 _Pixel Vader_

 _M-3_

 _ **King Pac**_

 _ **Epsilon**_

* * *

"Five hundred enemies!?" Uni's eyes widened at the amount of monsters she had to destroy. Did her sister really believe that she could do this? "But… Noire chose this mission for me." Clutching the disk tightly, Uni turned to see her sister on her cellphone.

"You got all that? Good, Uni will be at the dungeon entrance so don't make her wait. Alright, I'm hanging u- Wha- I heard that!? I'm not a loner. I DO have friends." Noire flinched. "Wh-Who…" Uni's sister began to curl her hair around her finger, her voice dropping in volume. "W-Well…" Uni sweatdropped at her sister's predicament . "A-Anyways, make sure your side makes it on time okay?" Hanging up the phone, Noire turned around to see Uni curiously staring at her.

"Noire, who was that?" Regaining her composure, Noire put her phone away and coughed into her fist.

"That was… Neptune." The CPU of Lastation returned to her sister.

"Neptune? As in the CPU of Planeptune?" Nodding, Noire reached for the disk and looked over the details of the Quest again.

"Yes. That Neptune." Uni raised an eyebrow. From what her sister had said about Neptune, she and the Planeptune goddess were rivals.

"Why did you talk to her… on your personal phone?" Flushing, Noire shook her head and let out a sigh.

"Nevermind that, the reason I called Neptune was to let her know where your Quest is taking place." Blinking, Uni stared at her sister quizzically.

"Why would you do that?"

"That's because I found you a partner for your Quest." Uni's eyes widened.

"A partner!? I thought you said you would let me handle this on my own!" Now it was Noire's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I never said that. All I said was that I wouldn't let you do anything reckless." Turning off the disk, Noire walked towards the entrance of the Guild. "I'll take you there, okay."

Pouting, Uni let her head hang for a second before running after her sister. Clenching her fist, Uni looked up to the ceiling.

"I'm going to finish this quest so perfectly, Noire will have to trust me!"

* * *

"Late…" Noire had dropped off Uni in front of the entrance ot Waverunner Coast, but her partner has yet to appear. While waiting, the Lasration Candidate looked around.

The area Uni was standing in was a gray bridge with a yellow stripe going down the middle. Before the bridge connected with many of the wide circlish areas that dotted the coast, the stripe cut through two red circles and ended immediately when the bridge's rails connected with circles. Uni opened the Quest Log again and stared the enemy list again. "I've fought many of these enemies with Noire, they aren't that tough…." The CPU Candidate's eyes then landed on the two bolded enemy names. "King Pac… and Epsilon… I've never seen those before." Biting her lip, Uni glanced around. None of the monsters around the immediate area looked anything like a King Pac or an Epsilon.

Suddenly, the sound of a plane reached the girl's ears. Turning off the disk, Uni placed the item on her belt and looked around to the clear blue sky. The girl squinted her eyes as she saw a tiny glint in the sky. The constant whir of the plane's engine got louder and louder as the plane approached Uni. Once the plane was a considerable distance from the CPU Candidate, it began to smoothly dip towards the bridge. At the same time, the plane tilted to the right, moving moving it in the direction it had tilted. Slowing down once it was about to pass the bridge, the plane flipped over and the cockpit opened, revealing the pilot. Jumping out of the cockpit, the pilot landed and dropped to one knee, feet away from CPU Candidate. The plane flew into the distance, spinning around for a bit and slowly digitized away and vanished.

There was a silence as the girl gazed the person kneeling, facing the ocean. The person, as Uni walked closer, turned out to be a boy. The boy had short lavender hair except of his semi-long side locks and the back of his head was tied into a ponytail by a dark purple hair tie. A D-Pad shaped hairclip, kept a part of his hair still against the faint breeze. Upon standing up, Uni found out that the boy was just a little bit, just a forehead, taller than her. At the same time, she could see his outfit completely now. The boy wore a white unzipped flight jacket, with a N patch where his heart would be. Under the jacket, he wore a white shirt and a purple scarf. Uni squinted her eyes again upon noticing the pudding shaped pin on the edge of his collar. Glancing at the rest of his attire, the boy bright white pants, which the legs were tucked under his vanilla boots. The boots had purple soles and a purple throat. Uni then noticed he was also wearing a light purple belt with a rectangular device strapped onto it. Finally, the CPU Candidate's eyes landed on the two holsters on the boy's leg. Each of the holsters held a white pistol.

"...Owwie…" Blinking, Uni now noticed that the boy's dark purple eyes were filled with tears as he struggled to stand straight. "I knew I should have had Neptune take me here…" Rubbing his eyes with his sleeve, the boy turned around and made eye contact with Uni. "Goodness!" Surprising both the CPU Candidate and himself, the boy bowed deeply. "I'm sorry you had to watch that! I'm sooo embarassed!"

A drop of sweat rolled down Uni's cheek.

" _He's polite."_ Thought the Lastation Candidate. " _And way too formal."_

Rubbing her shoulder, Uni glanced to the side, seeing some monsters wandering around.

"No…It's okay. Are you my partner for this Quest?" The boy straightened himself.

"Yes, if you're Lastation's CPU Candidate Uni." Upon hearing her title, Uni smirked a little bit.

"In fact, I am. But just call me Uni." Uni walked closer to the boy, studying him from head to toe and making him uncomfortable. "And you are?" The boy smiled and held out a hand.

"I'm Nepgear, I hope we get along." Now smiling as well, Uni reached out and grabbed Nepgear's hand.

"Likewise." Uni now held out her hands, a rifle digitizing into reality and comfortably landing in them. "Now, let's take care of these things." Nepgear nodded.

"Roger!" Nepgear reached for the pistol on his right and held it up. Both of them ran towards the monsters, some noticed them while other didn't.

Uni gunned down any monsters that were coming close while Nepgear fire upon any that were able to get through Uni's fire. The duo would keep this cycle until all the monsters in their immediate area were obliterated.

"Dogoogogo…" Once the last Dogoo was dissipated, Uni and Nepgear lowered their weapons.

"Wow, Uni. You're strong." Caught off guard, Uni swallowed back a stammer and composed herself.

"Yeah, well, you're not a bad shot either, Nepgear." The CPU Candidate narrowed her eyes at Nepgear's pistol. "But… you aren't able to kill a lot of monsters with just a pistol, given it's limited rate of fire and range." Nepgear rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I have something to deal with that."

"Really, show me next time okay?" Nepgear smiled widely.

"Sure!" Nepgear looked at the disk on Uni's side. "Oh right, how far away are we from completing the Quest's Clear Condition?" The girl reached for said disk and turned it on, looking at the clear condition.

"We've killed one hundred and twenty five out of five hundred enemies." Nepgear's eyes widened.

"Goodness!? Five hundred enemies!" Uni nodded.

"Yeah, I was surprised too." The girl glanced around. " _Nepgear uses the word 'Goodness'_ _a lot when he's surprised."_ The entire area was devoid of enemies. "I guess we better start looking for the rest." Nepgear looked around as well.

"Let's try going that way." Nepgear pointed to another bridge nearby and Uni nodded.

* * *

The duo walked through the bridge, Uni keeping her gun out while Nepgear replaced his pistol back into the holster. "Say Uni… Why are you doing this mission without your CPU?" Uni stared at the floor as they walked.

"Noire said that she was going to let me handle a Quest without her." The girl stopped walking and stared at the ocean. The sparkling blue waters reflecting her reflection. "...But then she gave me a partner." Uni suddenly realized the implications of her words. "N-Not that I'm saying you're a bad partner or anything!"

Nepgear's reflection appeared next to Uni's.

"My sister set me up with this quest because she wanted me to get stronger." Uni looked at the boy next to her, a smile on his face. "She even wanted to go with me, but her work forced her to stay home…" A envious smile appeared on Uni's face.

"You're lucky to have such a nice older sister as yours…" Nepgear now turned to make eye contact with Uni.

"But I think your sister is nice too!" The girl narrowed her eyes.

"How?"

"Well, she probably let you take this Quest without her because she trusts your ability," Nepgear turned back to the ocean, scratching his cheek. "But at the same time, she was worried that you would get hurt, so she made me your partner." In an instant, Uni's anxieties disappeared. "...I think." ...Well, they were gone for now.

"Thanks, Nepgear." Suddenly, Uni realized something. "Wait, I just realized. When we were fighting, you were the one covering me." The Candidate of Lastation raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it kind of strange that a guy is letting a girl take the lead? I thought guys naturally took the lead to look good." Nepgear's eyes widened.

"G-Goodness, no!" Nepgear fiddled with his fingers, trying to find something else to look at. "I'm not really confident at my leadership skills, so I naturally stand behind…" A giggle slowly rose out of Uni's mouth, which quickly turned to laughter. Nepgear's cheeks flushed as Uni held her stomach as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I didn't expect you to get so defensive about it." Uni wiped away a couple of tears. "It's okay, Nepgear. I was just kidding." Looking past Nepgear, Uni noticed an M-3 move into an adjacent circle. "Anyways, I think we've rested long enough." Raising her rifle, Uni pointed past Nepgear and towards the enemy. "I see a monster up ahead!"

Nepgear turned around, pulling out the pistol from his right leg.

"I see the target! Let's go!" Uni reached for Nepgear as he dashed away.

"H-Hey, wait!" Uni shook her head, readying her rifle. "He's getting ahead of himself!"

Nepgear ran towards the M-3, aiming at it as slowly turned around. The boy jumped over the machine's spiky electrocharged attachments and fired a bullet into the back of the monster's main body, causing it to flinch. Reaching for his other pistol, Nepgear repeatedly fired bullets into the M-3's body. The monster shook and shuddered under the stream of bullets until it collapsed onto the ground. The M-3 beeped out one last sound before it disintegrated into light.

"Phew! That takes care of that!" Uni screeched to a halt, dropping to one knee and peering through her rifle's scope.

"Nepgear, move!" The boy looked turned around to see three Pixel Vaders flying towards him.

"Ah!" Nepgear rolled aside as Uni sniped the three monsters out of the sky. "Wow, that was close!" The boy turned around to thank his partner as he noticed a Dogoo slowly scoot itself towards Uni. "Uni, watch out!" Nepgear saw the girl turn around and aim at the Dogoo, only for no bullets to come out of the nozzle.

"No ammo!?" Uni reached behind her for a magazine but the Dogoo was too close.

"Uni!" Nepgear replaced his left pistol back to its holster and hopped forward. Two purple crystals on the soles of Nepgear's boots began to shine. Levitating in the air for a second, Nepgear crouched as he grabbed his other pistol with both hands. The boy zipped forwards, leaving behind a purple trial. Nepgear pulled on the pistol's frame and it began to turn into a tiny rod as he raised it over his head. A purple energy beam erupted from the top of the rod, forming into a blade. "Teyaaaah!" Swinging downwards, Nepgear's energy sword slashed through the Dogoo, causing it to split in half and disintegrate. Nepgear landed on the floor, while Uni blinked her eyes then rubbed them.

"Wha-?" Uni stared at the energy sword as its purple light hummed silently. "How did you..." Letting out a sigh of relief, Nepgear raised the sword into the air, swinging it a little bit.

"Hehe, I modified my gun to turn into a sword." The boy then rubbed the back of his head. "...But it's sort of busted." Uni raised an eyebrow.

"Busted?"

"Yeah, I wasn't able to repair it in time before the Quest, so I'm positive that my weapon won't be able to change back into its gun form anytime soon."

"Heeh, that's not good." Uni looked to the side, her eyes widening. "And that's just worse." Nepgear traced Uni's head movements and quickly copied her.

"What. The. Goodness!?" A horde of monsters were swarming over to the two, among them was an armored figure that resembled a CPU, although bulkier and mechanical. "That's a lot of monsters!" Uni nodded.

"But…" Uni grabbed one of her extra magazines and quickly reloaded her rifle . "With so many monsters, we're bound to finish the Quest in no time!" Nepgear narrowed his eyes, staring at the robotic figure in the middle of the horde.

"Uni… what is that?" The girl in question shook her head.

"No idea, but I have a feeling that it's one of the monsters the Quest Log warned us about."

"Like a boss monster?"

"Probably." Nepgear gripped his energy blade tightly.

"Well, I don't want to give that thing to get closer than it already has. So I'm going to keep it at bay. Uni," Nepgear gave the girl a sincere smile. "Can I trust you to keep the rest off me? I don't think I'll be able to use a gun with my left hand as accurately as my right." Uni lifted her rifle.

"Of course! …Hey, that sounded pretty leader-esque!"

"Really!?" Uni nodded and gave him a big smile.

" **Contact!"** A mechanical voice emitted from the robot, its arms reaching for the floating wings on its back. The two partners looked at each other, gave a quick nod, and Nepgear ran towards the enemies while Uni began sniping at enemies left and right.

"Hiyaaaa!" Nepgear jumped towards the robotic monster, swinging his sword in a wide arc, knocking away any monsters that happened to be in the blade's path. However, the actual threat was unfazed by the attack and retaliated with a body tackle. The robot's leg bashed into Nepgear's body, sending him into the air and down helplessly into the hordes of monsters.

"Oh no you don't!" Uni raised her rifle into the air. "EX Multi Blaster!" The CPU Candidate of Lastation pointed her gun at the horde of monster below Nepgear. Pulling and holding down the trigger, Uni let energy build up within her weapon and after a second, let it go. A stream of energy erupted from Uni's gun, blasting away all the monsters that stood in its path. Nepgear plopped onto ground and immediately flipped himself and rolled to his feet. Turning to Uni, the boy gave a thumbs up and steadied his sword.

"Slash Wave!" Nepgear swung his sword forward, twisting his body at the same time. The swing was powerful enough to create a shockwave that kicked up plenty of monsters and the robotic monster as well.

" **Con-!"** Nepgear turned around and began to hack and slash at the enemies piling up behind him. Jumping off of an M-3 before it vanished, Nepgear continued his assault on the giant mech as Uni picked off stragglers. " **Contact!"** The robot reached behind for it's wings behind it, the two separate pieces of metal connecting together. Thrusting its arms forward, the wings spun around, knocking Nepgear out of the way. With nothing it the way, the robot threw its wings, the speed and velocity of the the throw making the wings move like a blade. The spinning blade sped towards Nepgear, who used his boots to dash out of the way. As the boy flew to safety, he noticed that the robot's body was not trained on him, but on Uni.

"Uni! Watch out!" Nepgear dropped into a pile of monsters as the Lastation Candidate looked up from her scope in confusion.

"Huh?" In her field of view, the blade flew towards Uni at a fast pace. "Eeek!" Uni backflipped into the air, at a higher altitude level than the blade, and pointed at the oncoming weapon. "Brave Cannon!" Another stream of energy erupted from the gun, this time blasting the threat into the ground and, at the same time, pushing away the remaining monsters that happened to be nearby. The weapon bounced around, eventually one of the wings sinking into the floor. Gritting her teeth, Uni turned towards the robotic monster. "You jerk! EX Multi Blaster!" Another energy blast was fired at the robot's face, but the monster immediately tried to move out of the way.

"Easy!" Dashing out of the pile of monsters, Nepgear jumped to the robot's face, his legs together. "Take this!" The boy dropkicked the robot back into the energy beam, the metallic opponent taking the full impact of the attack.

" **Con…"** The monster dropped to one knee, appearing to breathe heavily before vanishing. Nepgear frowned upon the monster's disappearing.

"Aw…" Uni ran over to Nepgear, panting a little bit.

"What's… wrong?" The girl was in a state of shock after seeing the robot's weapon heading towards her. When she was with Noire, she rarely saw danger since Noire able to cut down enemies fast enough or prevent the danger before it even happened.

"I hoped that the robot would leave something behind to tinker with?" Uni couldn't tell what made a roll of sweat roll down her face, Nepgear's reason to be upset, or her semi-exhaustion from the battle.

"Why would you want that?" Nepgear turned towards Uni, stars in his eyes.

"But that was a robot, Uni! A Robot!" Nepgear turned back to where the robot once was. "If I could have taken even a leg, think of all the mechanics that I could learn from such a magnificent specimen." And now, Uni can guess for which reason the sweatdrop appeared.

"In any case, you did a good job, Nepgear." The boy rubbed the back of his head and turned off his sword.

"Th-thanks, Uni." Moving his hand away from his head, Nepgear pointed to the disk on Uni's side. "By the way, how many more monsters do we have to defeat?" Shrugging, Uni reached for the disk and tapped the center.

"We took out a lot of them, so I'm pretty sure…" The hologram popped up and Uni's eyes narrowed. "Are you serious!?" Nepgear tilted his head.

"What's wrong?"

"We're one short of clearing the Quest!" Nepgear frowned.

"Geez… well I think there might be a straggler…." Nepgear looked around. "There isn't one…" Uni sighed.

"I guess better start looking for one." Nepgear nodded and the duo began crossing the platform when it began shake wildly. "What in the-!?" The two turned around to see the water bubbling, rising and falling in an erratic rate.

 **" _PAC!"_** The water rose into a tall pillar and gigantic figure burst out of it. Uni and Nepgear backed away as the monster landed on the center of the platform, shaking it further. **" _Pac…"_**

The monster resembled a certain famous turtle with its shell worn the other way around. Intimidating eyes, spiky hair and a spikier shell; the monster loomed over the two partners.

"I think we found our monster…" Uni readied her rifle. Nepgear turned on his sword as well, the purple blade humming. " _From what is said, I bet it's safe to say that this is King Pac, and the other monster was most likely Epsilon."_

"That shell looks tough…" Nepgear held his weapon with hands, his feet planted on the ground. "I'll ke-"

 **" _PAC!"_** The King Pac dropped onto its stomach and began spinning. Uni tried to aim for its head but the monster's spinning began to pick up, making it harder for her to shoot it.

Suddenly, the monster zoomed towards Uni.

"Wha-!? How can it even do that!?" Nepgear sidestepped into the way and used his sword to obstruct the monster's advance. However, the King Pac simply pushed Nepgear along with it, slightly slowed down.

"Argh! Uni move!" Uni ran out of the as Nepgear's legs gave out, the monster crashed into Nepgear and sent him flying into the platform's railing. "Gah!" Nepgear's sword flew out of his hand as he bounced against the railing. The boy slumped over as the sound of King Pac's shell griding against the floor got louder and louder. Glancing to the side, Nepgear saw his sword sliding further and further away from his location.

Uni stopped onto a knee as she saw Nepgear kick off the railing and crouch in the air, facing the dirction of sword. As he was about to zip away, the King Pac flipped forward, hurtling towards Nepgear.

"Nepgear!" Uni looked through the scope and began firing at the monster. The bullets merely ricocheted off its shell. The Lastation Candidate could only watch in horror as the King Pac crashed into Nepgear, sending him over the edge of the platform. Nepgear's cry of pain was silenced by a splash of water.

 **" _PAC!"_** Uni's eyes immediately turned to the King Pac, staring her down. Uni stepped back, glancing at Nepgear's sword nearby the monster then at King Pac's shell.

" _If the shell is that strong,"_ Uni thought back to the moment that she tried to protect Nepgear from the monster's attack. " _How am I supposed to beat it!?"_

King Pac dropped onto its belly once more, slowly restarting its rotation. Uni braced herself for another attack when she hear another splash of water.

From the other side of King Pac, Nepgear emerged from the water, flipping as he rose into the air.

"Nepgear, you're okay!" Once he reached the highest he go, the boy spread his arms like an eagle and propelled himself forward with the help of his shoes. As he was over King Pac, Nepgear flipped over so that his legs were angled towards King Pac's head. Positioning one in front of him and one behind him, the boy curled his legs as he descended towards the monster.

"Take this!" Nepgear shot his legs out while using his arms to spin around. King Pac roared in pain as Nepgear's boots collided with its head, and from the momentum if Nepgear's descent and the force of his stomp, King Pac flipped into the air while its assailant landed safely on the ground. "Not done yet!" Nepgear hopped backwards, and as soon as his back close to King Pac, the boy thrust out his leg, sending the monster away from him. "Quick, Uni. The back!" Nodding, Uni looked through her scope.

"Hmm…" As the monster flipped about, Uni took a closer look at its back. " _Its back! It's exposed!"_ Grinning, Uni waited for King Pac's back to reveal itself. "Gotcha!" The Lastation Candidate released a burst of bullets into the monster's back, sinking into its back.

Another roar as King dropped onto the ground. Nepgear limped over to Uni, favoring his thigh.

"That was… a good shot, Uni." The boy dropped onto his knee, not the one he was looking over, and plopped himself onto his butt. "Ah… that monster did a number on me." Uni bit her lip, as she crouched over her partner.

"Should we run?" Nepgear shook his head.

"I don't we can against that type of opponent." Thinking back to how the King Pac caught up to him before he had the chance to escape, Nepgear rubbed his leg.

"At this rate, I doubt we can send into the air again the way we did." Uni glanced the monster; it was beginning to stand up again.

"We can." Nepgear reached for the remaining pistol in his possession. "With this." Uni narrowed her eyes.

"How is- Wait." Uni leaned closer to Nepgear's pistol and gasped. "That's an N-Buster MK I!" Uni dropped her rifle and pulled the pistol out of Nepgear's hand. "Why do you have this!? These are super rare!" Nepgear gave a bashful smile.

"My sister gave it to me, because she said, 'Toting a gun and sword wasn't Nep enough!'..." The boy then placed a finger on his cheek. "Or was it, 'You can have it because it's too hard to carry both around.'... Huh, Uni?" The girl in question was too enamored by the gun, holding it out and looking over its specifications.

"Oooh~ It's not even modded, so its the real deal! This is so awesome! I'd never thought I would get a hold of one, not even in a hundred years~!" Nepgear sweatdropped.

"Uh… U-Uni?" Luckily, Uni snapped out of trance.

"O-Oh, sorry." Uni picked her gun after handing back Nepgear's. The girl flinched as a revelation hit her. "The Buster class can charge bullets and turn them into high explosive energy shots!" Nepgear nodded.

"Something like that should be able to knock it into the air." Uni turned to see that King Pac was standing, shaking its head and body.

"But how are we gonna finish it off, your sword…" Nepgear was staring at her rifle then looked at her in the eyes. "Me?" The boy nodded.

"Even if I could stand, my sword is too far for me to get it." Nepgear grabbed Uni's dress and pulled himself into a kneeling position. "You want to prove to your sister that you can do this right?" The Lastation Candidate hesitated for a second before nodding her head.

Shaking her head, Uni's slapped herself in the face, making both her determined and Nepgear worried that she hurt herself. The girl got onto her knee next to Nepgear while the boy dropped to a comfortable sitting position.

Both guns pointed at King Pac as the monster roared in anger. Nepgear held down the trigger to the N-Buster MK I, energy beginning to build up inside it. Meanwhile, Uni kept her finger off her rifle's trigger, waiting. As soon as King Pac dropped onto its belly, Nepgear released the trigger and a large ball of energy blasted out of the pistol and barrelled towards the monster's shell. As the projectile collided with King Pac, an explosion sent the monster airborne once again.

Gripping her rifle tighter, Uni raised her weapon, tracing King Pac's flight path. Pulling down on the trigger, Uni braced herself.

"Take this! EX Multi Blaster!" The energy beam erupted from Uni's rifle, heading straight for King Pac's body. The laser shot through King Pac, giving only seconds to utter a small yelp as it dissipated.

Once King Pac vanished, the disk on Uni's side began to vibrate and make noise. Sighing in relief, Uni dropped down next to Nepgear and took out the Quest Log.

Two words were all that the duo saw.

And they were two words that happily accepted.

 _ **ALL CLEAR!**_

* * *

Since Nepgear was injured, Uni had to help him back to the entrance. All of their weapons had been replaced, except Nepgear's malfunctioning sword, since it couldn't fit into the holster anymore. Instead, Nepgear carried it in his hand. Turned off of couse.

"Sorry that you have to do this. I normally bring Nep Bull U's with me, but I was so exicted about this quest that I forgot."

"It's okay, we're done. That's all that matters." As they reached the entrance to Waverunner Coast, two divine figures landed in front of them.

"You did a good job, Uni." Uni's eyes filled with tears of happiness.

"Noire!" Black Heart grinned as she saw that Uni lacked any major injuries while her companion floated over to the duo.

"You're not hurt, are you Nepgear?" The boy perked up as he heard a familiar voice. Shaking his head, Nepgear gave Purple Heart a big smile.

"Not really, but I can live with it." Smiling, Purple Heart took Nepgear, carrying him bridal style.

"You worked hard; we'll have Compa fix you up later." Uni shuffled over to her sister, whispering.

"Hey Noire, why is the CPU of Planeptune acting all familiar with Nepgear?" Black Heart raised an eyebrow.

"You really didn't notice? Well, let me say it straight: Nepgear and Neptune, or Purple Heart, are siblings." Uni's eyes turned into round white circles.

"Hu-Huh!? Then that means Nepgear's a-"

"CPU Candidate." Nepgear smiled as he finished Uni's sentence. Shocked, Uni pointed at Nepgear.

"Y-You…" Purple Heart smiled at Uni's reaction.

"So, did you make a new friend?"

"Fr-Friend!?" Nepgear nodded.

"Yeah, Uni and I worked well together." Uni crossed her arms.

"We are not friends!" However, Uni's defiance faded upon seeing Nepgear's hurt puppy dog eyes. "I-I mean, rivals! That's it, rivals!" Uni pointed at Nepgear, determination in her eyes. "Before we're friends, we're rivals! Since we're both CPU Candidates, I'll show you that Lastation is better than Planeptune."

"So… we're friends then?" Uni sighed.

"Ugh… Yes! We're friends, but rivals first!" Purple Heart chuckled.

"Well now, we'd best get going before Histy gets Pissty." Winking at Noire, Purple Heart rose into the air with Nepgear. "It fun playing at your place, Noire." The woman gave a quick nod to Uni as her sister mumbled about something incoherrent. "Congrats at getting a friend faster than your sister."

"Th-Thanks, I guess.

"Hey, I have friends too!?" With that, Purple Heart left for Planeptune. Once she was done mumbling, Black Heart picked up Uni. "...So, did you enjoy your job today?" Uni made a bright smile as the sisters rose in the air.

"Yeah!" Black Heart smiled

"Glad to hear it." The Lastation sisters left for their Basilicomm, tired from today's events.

* * *

"Hey, Neptune?" Purple Heart looked down at her younger brother.

"What is it, Nepgear?"

"I'm happy that you picked me up, but you know that I could have called my Gear-Wing and gone home that way." Purple Heart broke eye contact and looked to the side.

"About that…"

* * *

"MY GEAR-WING!" The plane that Nepgear piloted was inside his garage/lab, but it was upside down. The cockpit was crushed underneath by the plane's weight. One of the wings broke off and its tip was holding itself up against the body of the plane. The other wing was split in half, the broken piece lying on the ground. The body wasn't spared, either. The stand that held up the plane had pierced the body, cutting through and sticking out on the other side. "Wh-Wh-Wha-What happened!?"

Neptune scratched her cheek.

"From what Histy told me, you didn't caliberried the teleporty thingy right and it came back upside down and it ended up like that." Nepgear dropped to his knees. "Or was it Cadburtted?"

"I didn't calibrate the transportation coordinates correctly!?" Nepgear fell onto his hands, picking the half of the wing that fell off.

"That's it!"

"NOOOOO!" Neptune patted his brother on the back.

"Chin up, Nep Jr.! At least it didn't blow up!" The body split in half. "Oh…"

"Ah…m-my masterpiece..." A thud.

"He-Hey, Nep Jr.!? You can't white out on me, all 6 of your Pocketed Monstrosities haven't fainted yet! Nepgear! Nepgear! NEPGEAAAAAAR!"

A sigh.

"Could you please drop the dramatics and take Nepgear inside? (￣□￣」)"


	2. Visit

Visit

* * *

It had been months since Nepgear and Uni had their Quest together, and so far, things have been looking up for Uni. The Candidate has been able to take multiple Quests on her own, most of them were small and easy to handle, while others were tasking and difficult, but not the level that her first Quest was.

Fortunately, Uni was able to keep in contact with Nepgear after Noire got his N-Gear number from Neptune. As a result, Nepgear has come over occasionally to accept Uni's challenges… and to hang with his friend.

Uni kept a tally of her win-loss ratio against Nepgear, since she was determined to keep the Planeptune Candidate as a rival. They were currently at three to three. Uni's victories consisted of light gun game pvps, paperwork (Noire was happy to have two people to help her with work) and laser gun fights. However, the girl has lost to Nepgear in baking and parkour. In reality, Uni has a win-lose ratio of three to two, but she secretly counts that fact that Nepgear has a rare gun, the N-Buster Mk I and she doesn't as a loss.

So far, whenever the two would have their matches, Nepgear would be the one to come over and visit. On the other hand, Uni herself has not gone to Planeptune to personally visit her friendly rival, because she was the one who kept inviting Nepgear over.

On a certain day, Uni was sitting in her room, thinking of what she could do to help her sister or relieve her boredom until the end of the day. On her bed, Uni's U-ta was ringing a specific ringtone. The ringtone was actually a section of a song by 5pb., a song that reminded Uni of Nepgear.

Getting off of her chair, Uni picked up her device and unlocked, revealing a notification that said that she got a message. Opening her Chirper app, Uni found the message was sent from Nepgear.

* * *

 _Hi, Uni. I have something for you, so can you come over today?_

* * *

The girl's eyes widened as she slowly set down the phone. Picking up the phone again, Uni closed the app and opened it again.

The message was still there.

* * *

"At Lowee? Why are you having us go there instead of Leanbox?" Noire tapped her foot against the floor as she listened to the other person on the phone explain herself. "'Everything will explained there?' ...Alright, I'll be there in three days." Suddenly, Noire's face flushed. "Why would I know if Neptune can make it!? It's not like I'm her babysitter or anything like that!" The Lastation goddess pulled the receiver away from her ear and stared at the screen as it display the call ending. "She hung up on me!?" Uni sweatdropped as she watched her sister grit her teeth.

"Um… Noire?" Noire put her phone on her desk with a huff.

"Of all th- Oh, Uni. What is it?" Uni played with her hair.

"Well…" Uni explained Nepgear's invitation and Noire crossed her arms. "And that's it."

"I don't see what the problem is." Noire's little sister widened her eyes.

"But Nepgear's my rival! Wouldn't going to his home break any notion of being heates rivals?" The CPU of Lastation shook her head.

"Uni, there's nothing wrong with going to hang out at a rival's home." Noire craned her neck away, her eyes a dull shade of red. " _His older sister barges in here every once in a while."_ Uni tilted her head to the side.

"Sis?" Noire shook her head, her twintails swishing from side to side

"Anyways, when are you going?"

"Well, he asked if I could come today, so I guess right now?" Noire smiled.

"Yeah, sure. Go have fun." When Uni didn't leave, Noire raised her eyebrow. "Well? Aren't you gonna act like a teenage girl and run outside all excited?" Uni sweatdropped.

"I was wondering if you could take me there." Noire blinked.

"Oh. Sorry, I can't take you there myself, I got a lot of work to do." Noire crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Hmm… Oh I know." Noire reached for her phone and flicked through the numbers before choosing one to call. "Hey, Neptune…"

* * *

Within a couple hours, Uni and Noire were standing one of the highest balconies in Lastation's Basilicomm. Uni had grabbed her bag, inside was her U-ta and other necessities. Not long after after Uni checked inside her bag for the third time, a purple flash of light aopeared in the sky and Purple Heart descended onto balcony with elegance and poise.

"I've arrived, Noire." The black haired CPU rolled her eyes

"You need to state the obvious. Anyways, I'm entrusting Uni to you." Noire placed an arm over her little sister, while Uni glanced the ground.

Purple Heart stared at Uni, her eyes still and unmoving. After a moment, the purple haired goddess nodded.

"...Alright, I'll take good care of her." And Purple Heart leaned close to Noire's ear. "And remember our deal…" The goddess backed away, a smug smile on her face as Noire huffed.

"Just take my sister there… and of course." Uni noticed that her sister's cheeks were a little red but she dismissed it.

Purple Heart stepped back and held out her arms like a hug.

"Come here, Uni." Uni nodded.

"Y-Yeah." The Lastation Candidate walked into the Planeptune Goddess's tight embrace and the two shot into the air, leaving behind a strong gust of wind and Noire covering her face from dust.

Afraid to look at her fri-rival's older sister, Uni stared as the passing scenery as Purple Heart carried her from Lastation to Planeptune. Grasslands, forests, villages and other sights zipped by in an instant thanks to a CPU's speed while in Hard Drive Divinity, especially Purple Heart, who was characterized by her speed, which was also given to Planeptune's Mascot Character.

"Uni." Startled, the girl looked up to see Purple Heart's bright blue eyes meet her own own ruby ones. "How do you see yourself alongside Nepgear?" Uni blinked her eyes.

"What question is that? He's my rival!" A determined smile grew on the Candidate's face, although Purple Heart rose an eyebrow.

"Is that all?" Purple Heart stared ahead before speaking again. "No ulterior motive?"

"No, why would I have one?" The CPU shook her head as her hair was blown aside by the air as she sped past it.

"Nepgear's been… unfortunate when comes to women."

"Huh?"

"His kind nature and youthful appearance… can attract the wrong crowd." Purple Heart closed her eyes. "I still remember the day Nepgear was almost kidnapped." Uni's eyes widened.

"Kidnapped!?" A sigh.

"Yes, had it not been for Histy and IF's help, Nepgear would have lost his chastity on that day."

"Ch-!" Uni turned her attention to the scenery passing by, they had passed the border between Lastation and Planeptune as she could see Virtua Forest and other landmarks that populate Planeptune's country. "Who would do that to Nepgear!?"

"...His fanclub for one."

"He has a fanclub!?"

"One that he has no knowledge of." Purple Heart began to slow down as they reached a subway station. Once they were above the station, the CPU began to descend.

"Neptune? I thought we were going to the Basilicom?" The two touched the ground and Purple Heart released her grip.

"I'm afraid this is as far as I can take you," Turning around, Uni and Purple Heart saw two figures approaching them. They were Neptune's closest Maker friends: the Windwalker of Gaminudstri, IF, and the Nurse that heals all boo boos with bandaids, Compa. "You see, I promised Compa that I'd go grocery shopping with her today."

"Nep Nep!" Purple Heart was engulfed in a bright light, leaving behind her smaller, happier, and non-divine counterpart.

"Hey, Compa! Sorry to keep ya waiting!" Once Compa was in range, Neptune hopped into a hug with the nurse, snuggling. From behind Compa, IF sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"You two better get going if you want to get on the train." Still in the hug, Neptune made a V with her fingers.

"Don't keep your panties twisted, Iffy! All I gotta do is say that I'm their CPU and they'll give us free VIP tickets!" Uni watched the conversation unfold, then looking around.

" _How am I supposed to get to the Basilicom from here?_ IF patted the girl on the shoulder, giving a reassuring smile.

"I'll take you to PlanepTower from here. Come on." The Guild agent waved goodbye to Neptune and Compa, who were entering the station at the same time IF and Uni were leaving. IF led Uni to her motorcycle, producing two helmets from her inventory. "Here."

"Thanks." Uni put on the helmet and the two left the parking lot that the motorcycle had been parked in and turned left.

"No problem, you know Gear has been looking forward to you coming here." Despite having a motorcycle, Uni was still able to hear IF over the loud rumble of the engine.

"Really?" IF made a right.

"Oh yeah, it's cause your Nepgear's first friend that he made without Neptune's help."

"First…" Uni felt honored by the idea of being Nepgear's friend, shaking the thought away as she was determined to see the boy as a rival and nothing more.

"It kind of doesn't help that Nep's overprotective."

"Oh yeah, she sorta interrogated me." IF slowed down.

"Did she tell you what happened to Nepgear?" Uni nodded, remembering that IF was facing the road.

"...Yeah." IF sighed as she made a left then stopped at a stoplight.

"It doesn't help that the first time Gear went out with us, some random woman looked at him and immediately asked him to marry him." Uni flinched. "Obviously, we had to help him get away from her. But then, he accidentally bumped into another woman and helped her up… only for her to get lovestruck."

"...How does Nepgear react to that?" IF shook her head.

"He's too kind, sometimes for his own good. Luckily, Nepgear's too focused on trying to help people to notice their advances. At the same time, that can be a double edged sword for him too." IF's motorcycle stopped at a parking spot and the owner of the bike hopped off. "Well, we're here." Uni got off IF's motorcycle, took off her helmet and looked up at the massive structure that was Planeptune's Basilicom.

"Woah…" Mesmerized by the building in front of her, Uni was startled when IF patted her on the shoulder. "W-what?"

"The entrance is over here, come on." Uni noticed that the parking spot that IF had settled her bike in was covered by the PlanepTower's height, and she noticed that the door they were entering was not as glamorous as she would have been led to believe. "By the way, this is the back entrance into the Basilicom." The Lastation Candidate sighed in relief.

Instead of seeing the front lobby, Uni was treated to the emergency stairs for people who like to have them for emergencies, or for the occasional sprint up the stairs when the elevators took too long to get the floor a person was at.

"Nep and Gear live at top of the tower." Uni's eyes immediately widened. "But Nepgear's on the third floor, working on his Gear-Wing."

"Gear-Wing?" IF nodded.

"Yeah, his starship, plane, whatever you call it." Uni mouthed "oh."

" _That was probably the thing he piloted on our first Quest."_ Upon entering the third floor, the duo encountered a small girl with fairy wings and sat on a thick, opened tome.

"Ah, good job in bringing her here IF." The small girl smiled at Uni.

"Hello, Lastation CPU Candidate Uni. I am Histoire, the Tome of Gamindustri and Planeptune's Oracle. I am glad that you came at Nepgear's request. m(_ _)m " Histoire bowed despite sitting. Uni copied Histore's actions.

"Th-thank you for having me." Smiling once more, Histoire turned to IF.

"Is there anything you need before you embark on your Quest?" IF shook her head.

"Nah, I'm prepared." Histoire's face turned into one of worry.

"Please, don't overexert yourself. If you need to, just take what you need from Planeptune's storage. (o^ ^o)" IF grinned and crossed her arms.

"Alright, I'll be careful. I'm heading off now." IF waved goobye, while Uni and Histoire did the same.

"Take care…" Histoire floated in front of Uni's peripheral vision.

"Allow me to take to where Nepgear is." Uni swallowed.

"O-Ok." Histoire levitated down the hallway, Uni following closely behind her.

"I must say, Nepgear was very excited to have you come here. (￣︶￣)" Uni's cheeks flushed red.

"Why is everyone saying that, I'm just his rival." Histoire giggled.

"Rivals you may be, but for an introvert such as Nepgear, having someone around the same age as him is pleasant."

"Introvert?" Histore stopped in the air.

"Despite Neptune's… behavior, she has doted on and spoiled her brother, causing him to lack some social skills and other necessities." Sighing, the Oracle of Planeptune faced Uni. "I'm sure that Neptune has informed you of the incident involving Nepgear." Uni nodded. "Had Nepgear been sufficently trained, such an incident would never have occurred." Histoire turned to a door, placing her tiny hand on the control console beside it. "As a result, Neptune has become overprotective of Nepgear, but I believe that your bond will give Nepgear the chance to enjoy things other than his hobbies." The door slid open, revealing a garage-like room. "This is the hangar part of Nepgear's lab. He is inside." Before she went inside, Uni pointed at the door.

"Just the hangar?" Histoire nodded.

"This entire floor is Nepgear's lab." Uni froze for a second, before shaking her head and blinking her eyes multiple times.

"Uh… okay then…" Histoire asked Uni to enjoy her stay and left the girl in front of the open door.

Taking a second to compose herself, Uni walked into the garage of Nepgear's lab. The inside looked simple, but then Uni noticed all the scattered parts, the holograms displaying statistics that she couldn't discipher. As Uni walked further and further into the room, she could hear the faint sound of machinery being worked on.

Uni kept walking until she found a railing. Looking over the railing, the Lastation Candidate found a starship that looked like the one she had briefly seen when Nepgear arrived in it. This aircraft was significantly wider and lost most of it pointed design.

Upon closer inspection, Uni saw pair of legs sticking out from under the plane. Since this was called "Nepgear's lab," Uni could guess who was inside.

"Nepgear?" A gasp could be heard from under the vehicle.

"Un-" A loud bang. "Owwie!" Nepgear rolled out from under his work. The Planeptune Candidate was wearing a pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt, his clothes were torn and stained in oil while his shirt was drenched in sweat. "You came!" Nepgear stood up and took a lift up to Uni's floor. The boy ran over to Uni before screeching to a halt and stepping back.

"What?"

"I… kinda need to take a bath." Uni nodded in understanding. "But you can take this," Nepgear gestured to a panel on the other side of the floor they were on. "You can wait in my room until I get back."

"Oh, I guess that's- Wait your room!?" Nepgear blinked.

"Where else could you wait?" Uni sweatdropped.

"I don't know… maybe your _living room_?" Nepgear shook his head.

"Goodness, no! The living room is too messy right now since Neptune plays most of her games there." Uni sweatdropped.

" _The person who's worried about Nepgear is causing me trouble…"_ Nepgear took his dirty gloves, which Uni just noticed, and placed his hands on Uni's shoulders.

"Come on, there's nothing wrong with having a friend sit in another's room."

"We're rivals! And there's plenty wrong with a girl going into a guy's room!"

"My sister comes and goes in all the time so it's fine." Before Uni could rebuttle, Nepgear gently pushed onto the panel, which lit up a light purple color. "I'll see you in fifteen minutes!"

"Wait!" Uni's surroundings changed from the dull looking hangar to a pleasant bedroom. The girl stepped off the panel she stood on, and a rug cover slid over it. " Th-This is…"

Nepgear's room looked simple in design. A bed on one side of the room and a desk and TV on the other side of the room. The walls were light purple, and had posters of robots and machines covering the walls. The posters were spaced an equal amount as well. Nepgear's bed was an average-looking mattress and bed. On top of the bed was a purple blanket with a lavender pillow. There was a closet on the opposite side of Nepgear's bed and in between the two was a window that revealed Planeptune's capital city.

"Whoa…" And at the same time, the window revealed how high Nepgear's room was from the ground. "I bet everyone looks like ants from up here." Suddenly, Uni turned towards the closet.

Shaking her head, Uni walked away from the window and towards the desk. On Nepgear's desk was a laptop with an N logo on it, his N-Gear off to the side, and his gun that was able to change into a sword. Uni was able to figure this out because the weapon was still in sword form.

As she was about to pick up the bladeless weapon, Uni's eyes glanced upwards. Reflecting her ruby eyes was a picture frame. The girl picked it up. Inside was a picture of Nepgear, smiling bashfully as Neptune wrapped her arms around her little brother's waist. Next to her, Compa was glomping Neptune, and by extension, Nepgear. On Nepgear's other side was IF, leaning her back onto the boy and turning to face the camera. Sitting on IF's head was Histoire, looking as tiny as ever.

Uni noticed a label on the bottom of the wooden frame; the label was a simple silver plate with one purple word engraved onto it: Family.

Upon putting down the frame, Uni saw another one. This one had a silver frame with another label: Friends. However, what made Uni feel uncomfortable wasn't the label, but what was inside the frame. Looking away, Uni stepped away from the desk and painfully glanced at the 'Friends' frame again.

The Lastation Candidate saw nothing.

"Ah… Taking a bath feels good." The closet opened up and Nepgear walked into his room, drying his hair with a towel. "Hey, Uni." The boy pulled the towel off of his head, revealing that his hair was tangled and messy. "Do you like my room?"

"..." Uni's weren't on the room, but the owner's clothing. Nepgear a sleeveless white undershirt and shorts. It was at that moment Uni realized that Nepgear was neither buff or flabby.

"Uni?" The girl shook her head.

"F-Fine! Fine! Your room is fine!" Nepgear sighed in relief.

"Phew! I'm relieved!" Nepgear turned back to the closet and pushed a button, the sounds of machinery and other things moving coming from inside. After a second, Nepgear dropped to his knees and pulled out a small wooden table. "I was afraid that you'd think my room was weird."

As Nepgear put up the table, Uni raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I think it's weird?" Nepgear pressed his hands together.

"We-Well, wouldn't girls think that robots are weird?" Uni narrowed her eyebrows.

"What kind of sexism is that?" Nepgear flinched.

"S-Sexism!? N-no, I didn't mean it like that!" Uni sat herself at the table, nodding her head slowly.

"Suuure." Uni relaxed into her seat when they heard the door knock.

"Who's there?"

"...Nepgear, it's… me." Histoire's strained voice sounded from behind the door.

"Coming!" Nepgear walked towards the door and Uni could hear the mechanism turn as her rival opened the door. "Oh, Histoire. You didn't need to do that!"

"...At least… let me do this… much… for all your hard… work. (￣.￣;)" The sounds of glasses tapping against each other.

"Please, go rest once you've finished your work." Uni looked around once more, not finding anything important to notice.

"Thank you, Nepgear. It puts me at ease that you're reliable… unlike your sister…" Nepgear chuckled slowly.

"Well… that is one of Neptune's strong points."

"...Strong points. Yes. Let's go with that shall we? (￢_￢)" The door closed and Nepgear's footsteps could be heard as he approached the table again.

"Uni, Histoire brought us iced tea. Do you want a glass?" The boy walked over to the table, carrying a tray that held a pitcher of iced tea and a couple of tall glasses. "It has been kinda warm these days…"

"I'll have one." Nepgear nodded and poured a glass, handing it to his companion. The boy began to pour a glass when his door suddenly burst open.

"I knew it!" Histoire floated into the room, her face red and her eyes white circles. "Nepgear, what are doing!?"

"Pouring iced tea?" Histoire pointed at Nepgear, specifically at his clothes.

"No, your clothes! Have some decency! ヽ(ﾟ〇ﾟ)ﾉ" Nepgear looked at his shirt and Uni could practically see a question mark pop up over his head.

"But… I dress like this all the time and everyone doesn't mind." Both Uni and Histoire sweatdropped.

"Nepgear, that applies to family. Not guests. (￢_￢)"

"Not guest?"

"No, most people would be uncomfortable with that kind of thing." Nepgear smiled.

"But Uni wouldn't be disturbed by this, right Un-" When Nepgear turned to his friend, Uni made the face as Histoire's emoticon. "U-Uni?"

Uni turned away from her rival, scratching her cheek.

"Sorry, Nepgear." Nepgear blinked, looked at his clothes, then back to Uni.

"OH MY GOSH! I'm so sorry!" Nepgear shot up, rushing to his closet and rapidly pushing the button. "No! No! No! I don't want the teleporter! I want my clothes!" Histoire and Uni watched Nepgear panic.

"Thank goodness that he finally caught on." Uni looked to Histoire as she sighed in relief. "Nepgear will be like this for a while, so please enjoy your stay."

"Y-Yeah, I will. Thanks." Histoire bid Uni goodbye and left the room. Once she left, Uni watched Nepgear panic more.

"No! Not my weapons rack! I WANT MY CLOOOTHES!"

After a couple of minutes, Nepgear was finally able to grab a purple striped polo shirt and hastily put it on.

"S-Sorry, Uni. I didn't know…" Uni giggled. "Wh-what?"

"Nepgear, you're weird."

"Weird!? Me!? Aw…"

"It's not a bad thing." Nepgear's frown turned upside down.

"Oh, thanks Uni." Nepgear took a sip of his drink as Uni remembered something.

"Nepgear." The boy continued to drink as he made eye contact with his friend. "You wanted to show me something right?" Nepgear pulled his glass away from his mouth, put it down and swallowed his iced tea.

"Oh, yes! Hold on!" Nepgear ran to his closet again and pushed a button.

" _Again with the closet…"_ Nepgear pulled out a crowbar and walked to his bedside. and dropped to his hands and knees. Using the crowbar, Nepgear pulled a panel off the floor and reached inside. While his arm was under the floor, the Planeptune Candidate turned to his friend and smiled.

"Hang on, Uni. Almost there." Uni raised an eyebrow as she watched Nepgear randomly make faces as he searched around. "Ah! Found it!"

Pulling his arm out from under the floor, Nepgear procured a black box with a gray ribbon tied to the box.

"A present? Nepgear, you didn't have to get me anything." The boy walked over to Uni and happily put the box in her hands.

"No, no. Please, I insist." Hesitantly taking the box, Uni placed it on the table as she could hear Nepgear replacing the panel and the crowbar.

The box itself was about the size of a tablet, but as thick as Histore's tome. Gently putting her thumb and index finger on one end of the ribbon, Uni pulled it. The ribbon became undone and the girl lifted the box. Inside the box was a pistol, white in color an-

"Wait, is the N-Buster MK I!?" Uni's head zipped to Nepgear, who was in the middle sitting down. "A-Are you giving this to me?" Nepgear smiled while extending a hand.

"It's all yours." Uni took the gun out of the box and looked at it closely. Meanwhile, Nepgear scratched the side of his cheek bashfully as he watched Uni marvel over her gift. "After all, you'd take better care of it than I would…" The boy pressed his fingers together and looked at his glass of iced tea. "And you're my first friend too."

"Th-This is awesome! Thanks, Nepgear!" Nepgear looked back up and sweatdropped.

" _I guess she didn't hear me… Aw…"_ Uni blinked her eyes and then looked at her CPU Candidate companion.

"But what will you do without this?" Nepgear grinned.

"Well, I've tried to repair my Buster-Sword, but it turns out that the energy core melted the parts together, so it's irreparable." Nepgear walked over to his desk and opened the drawer. "However!" The CPU youngling pulled out a folded up piece of paper and returned to Uni. "I've begun to draw my schematics in making my own gun!" Unfolding the paper, Nepgear revealed his plans to Uni. "I call it, the Gear-Buster!"

Smiling, a sudden realization hit the Lastation Candidate.

" _Wait, if I just let Nepgear butter me up like this, he'll gain the advantage in our rivalry!?"_ Uni bit her lip. " _But how am I going to repa- I mean, counter, something as earnest as this?"_

"But I can really make it…" Uni perked up at the sound of Nepgear's situation.

"What's wrong?" Nepgear looked at his drawings and sighed.

"I don't have the sources to get all the parts I need to create this, even with IF…" Uni's eyes sparkled.

" _Rival Event start!"_

"Let me see that." Nodding, Nepgear pushed the paper across the table, letting Uni scrutinize the details. " _Hey, I have spares of these parts! But, some of them won't work together well…"_ Uni picked up the plans and folded them up. "I can take care of this."

"R-Really!?" The boy clasped his hands together, his eyes shining. "You can!?" A grin on her face, Uni nodded.

"In fact, I can make it essentially like the way you drew, with minor changes of course." Nearly knocking over his drink, Nepgear bowed, his palms on the top of the table.

"Please do!" Uni raised her arms, surprised at Nepgear's humble request.

"Ho-Hold on! I said I'd do it! Geez, you don't have to beg like that all of a sudden." Pushing her hair aside, Uni winked and gave Nepgear a thumbs up. "I can't just let my rival have a disadvantage after all." Uni could practically see an aura of happiness around the boy.

"Thanks, Uni. You're the greatest friend that I could ask for."

"Fr-! Rival! We're rivals!" When Nepgear laughed, Uni pouted and began to shake a bit. "That's it! A duel! In order to prove that we are meant to be rivals, we're going to have showdown, right now!" Taken aback, Nepgear scooted backwards a bit as Uni pointed a finger at him.

"Wh-What are going to do?" Grinning, Uni crossed her arms.

"I'm going to challenge you to a game of your choosing, and beat you at it so bad that you're gonna wish that you didn't invite me!"

"O-Okay, I'll get a game ready."

* * *

"..." Nepgear looked at Uni, who was sitting next to him, her eye twitching.

"Uni, is there something wrong?" Uni looked at the one controller in Nepgear's hand, then to her own, which was missing a controller. The girl looked at the television screen in front of her, narrowing her eyes.

"What are we playing?" Nepgear sweatdropped at Uni's unenthusiasm.

"...The Game of Life." Uni turned to Nepgear will dull eyes.

"Why are we playing this?"

"You said we could play any game I wanted…" Uni scratched her head with both of her hands.

"I was expecting something more rival-like! Like Queen of Brawlers or Hedgehog Fighters!" Uni crossed her legs and her arms, pouting once more. "...Something we could fight over."

"Neptune has those kinds of games, sorry." Nepgear rose the controller up a bit. "But we can still compete in this game too. We can bet on what will happen, or try to influence charaters. Oh, we can make our own characters and have them duel!" Somewhat intrigued, Uni sat up straight.

"Fine, but I get to choose what my character looks like." Nepgear bounced on his spot of the floor.

"Ooooh, I'm so excited! SHould we be best friends, or even childhood friends!"

"He-Hey, I said rivals! Rivals!"

* * *

"Histy, we're hoooome!" Compa skipped into the living quarters of the Basilicom, heading straight for the kitchen to drop off the loot they had foraged for.

"Heya, Histy!" Histoire crossed her arms as Planeptune's CPU bounded into the room a pack of pudding in her arms. "I wonder how's my little Nep Jr. doing…"

"Neptune…" Dropping her snack at the table, Neptune stealthily moved towards her little brother's room while singing a certain tune that was reminiscent of a special agent with numbers as his codename.

"Hey, Nep Jr.~ Big Sis is here~" Peeking her head into the Nepgear's room, Neptune found her brother and an intriguing sight.

Nepgear was asleep against the bed frame, a blanket wrapped around his body to keep him warm and a couple of pillows to keep his body from aching. But it wasn't just the sight of her adorable little brother sleeping that startled her, but seeing Uni in the same blanket as Nepgear, leaning on his shoulder, asleep as well.

The television screen as on, it revealed two characters, a purple haired male name GeGe and a black haired female name Yni standing next to each other, happily holding each others' hands. Above them was the ending game screen that said: _**Enjoy the rest of your Game of Life together, GeGe & Yni! **_At the bottom right corner of the screen was a little option that said: _Auto-play_ , which was lit up, meaning that it functioning.

"Hmm… Methinks that there's gonna be a ship a sailin'." Wrapping the blanket tighter around the Candidates without suffocating Uni, Neptune left her brother's room silently, only to find Histoire waiting for her outside.

"Neptune… you may be Nepgear's older sister. But cannot just invade on his private affairs!" The tiny fairy pinched the goddess's ear and began dragging her into the living room. "You are going to have lesson on manners and privacy, right now!"

"What!? Bu-But, Histy…. Noooooooo-" The door closed as Neptune reached out in desperation.


	3. Twins

Twins

* * *

"Uni, do you have everything you need?" Uni followed Noire out of the Basilicom, nodding her head as she secured her bag over her shoulder.

"I'm ready, Sis!" The Lastation Candidate paused when she saw that her sister wasn't in HDD. "Huh? I thought we were leaving?" Noire nodded and looked up to the sky.

"We are, but Lowee is a cold place." Uni followed Noire's gaze and noticed a sparkle in the sky. "So we're going to get a ride there." The familiar whir of a plane reached Uni's ears as as the sparkle turned into an object approaching quickly. Nepgear's starship sped towards Uni and Noire's location, suddenly stopped upon reaching them and gently landed on the ground.

The cockpit popped open and Neptune appeared, waving her hand excitedly.

"Nowa~! Uni~! Hurry up!" Noire gritted her teeth.

"How many times have told you to not call me that!?" Uni pressed her hand against her bag, feeling the outline of a box inside.

"Nevermind that! Hurry, hurry~!" Noire crossed her arms and shook her head.

"Geez, you're such a pain." Hopping up to the wing of the plane, the CPU of Lastation stretched an arm out to her sister. Uni smiled as she jumped, pulled up by Noire.

"Come on, come on!" Neptune playfully patted the side of the ship before plunging inside. Sighing, Noire walkes across the plane's wing and climbed inside, only for Uni to hear shouts of protest and resistance from her sister.

"Ah, Uni!" This time, Nepgear popped out of the cockpit, wearing his outfit from their Quest. "How are you?"

"Nepgear! I'm alright…" Uni pressed her hand against her bag evem harder as she walked over to the cockpit. The plane was outfitted with four seats, two in front and back. Both Nepgear and Noire sat in the back- in reality, Neptune pulled the Lastation CPU into the back- leaving Uni to sit next to Nepgear in the front.

"Don't forget to put on your seatbelt. Safety first!" Nodding as she climbed into her seat, Uni placed her bag at her feet and secured herself onto the chair.

"So, so, so, what do you think of the plane, Noire?"

"Why are you so proud of it, from what you told me, this isn't even your plane!?"

"Noire…" Uni sweatdropped at the duo behind her as Nepgear stuck his hands out, a holographic panel appearing.

"Is everyone ready?" Upon hearing a cheer from Neptune, a snark from Noire and seeing a nod from Uni, Nepgear began to input commands onto the panel, the pieces that he pushed lighting up to a pale white and then fading back to a cyan blue. The starship whirred to life and the engines started up. "Okay, then." The Gear-Wing picked itself up into the air, rising slowly at an increasing speed. "Our destination: Lowee!" The ship's main engine roared to life and jetted the CPUs towards the north.

* * *

A half an hour into the flight, Neptune had fallen asleep and Noire had become eerily quiet. Not wanting to get curious, Uni kept her eyes on the sky ahead of her. Clouds zoomed by as the Gear-Wing flew towards Lowee. As they moved further and further, the skies slowly turned a gentle dark blue as snow began to fall. The Gear-Wing's cockpit refracted the sun's light enough so that Nepgear didn't need sunglasses or goggles to fly.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Uni looked away from the view to see Nepgear grinning as he pushed away the panel and pushed a button the side, causing a control stick to pop up in front the pilot. "Flying, like our sisters."

"Yeah," Uni turned around and looked at their sisters. Neptune dropped onto Noire's shoulder, snoring loudly. Noire, however, was paralyzed by Neptune's contact and was unable to talk to the girl, let alone shove her off. "Ah…"

"What's wrong?" Shaking her head, Uni looked at her bag, covering it with her legs.

"It's nothing."

"Hey, Uni?" The girl hummed a response. "Do you wonder how it feels to fly?" Sighing, Uni leaned against her chair.

"Of course I do. …We haven't been able to transform yet."

"Yeah…" Uni reassured herself with a grin and crossed her arms.

"Well, I'm going to be first of us to transform so I'll let you know." Nepgear chuckled.

"I'll hold you to that." Nepgear focused his attention to flying as Uni blinked.

"...Eh? Th-That's it?" Uni narrowed her eyes and turned to Nepgear. "Hey, Nepgear!"

"Y-Yes!?" The boy gripped the control stick tighter as Uni grabbed his shoulder.

"What are you saying? We're rivals! We're supposed to compete! Compete!" Nepgear sweatdropped.

"Even if you say that…" Suddenly, a device in between the two Candidates began flashing. "Ah, Uni. Could you please press that?"

"S-Sure?" Uni tapped the button-looking device. Nothing. "Uh, Nepgear. It's not working."

"Hm? Oh, just press it harder. I'm still trying to calibrate the sensitivity on that." Following her companion's directions, the device pulsed a pale red at Uni's touch and began projecting something.

A red icon appeared, Lowee's symbol, with a pair of wings attached to the object. Under the icon was a small dark red rectangular box, the box depicted the a name: Lowee National Air Defense.

" **Unidentified aircraft: State your business or face Loweean anti-air measures."** Nepgear cleared his throat.

"This is Nepgear, CPU Candidate of Planeptune and pilot of this plane. We were invited to Lowee by Blanc." Silence. Uni glanced at Nepgear in worry while the boy smiled at his friend.

" **...Authorization confirmed: Lady White Heart will meet you at Hangar L. Please allow two Loweean jets to escort you."** As soon as the voice finished talking, two fighter jets flew up to the Gear-Wing, heading to the front of the aircraft and making a V.

"Thank you." The jets flew off to the side and Nepgear followed after them. After a couple of turns in complete silence, minus Neptune's snoring and Noire's mumbling, the Gear-Wing eventually reached the hangar.

Upon landing safely, Nepgear pushed a button and the control stick retracted and the cockpit opened up.

"Alright, everyone. We're here!" Neptune perked up at the sound of her brother's voice and stood up, yawning. Noire sighed in relief while Uni thought she heard some disappointment in there as well. Uni stretched her legs while Nepgear climbed out of the Gear-Wing and hopped off the vehicle, landing on his feet as his boots clanked on the metal ground. "Oh hello, Blanc! Look at the new and improved Gear-Wing! Doesn't it look amazing!"

"Mm…" The remaining three passengers listened as Nepgear and Blanc chatted about the Gear-Wing staying in the hangar. Eventually, Noire got feeling back into her legs and climbed out of the Gear-Wing.

"Hello, Blanc. I see that you've rolled out the red carpet for us." Restless, the Planeptune CPU literally jumped out of the Gear-Wing.

"Blaaaaanc!" Suddenly, a loud thud coupled with Noire's shout suprise sprang into Uni's hearing. The Candidate curiously peered out of the vehicle to see Neptune sitting on top of her sister, who was lying facedown. "Oops… sorry, Noire. I guess my tush just kinda autoaimed for ya."

"NEPTUNE!" Uni sweatdropped and felt someonr staring at her. Looking away from her sister and Neptune, Uni saw a small girl. Said girl wore a sleeveless dress under a fur-trimmed coat and on her head was a poofy white hat. The girl's cold blue eyes pierced Uni's quivering red ones. Blinking, the girl with the blue eyes turned to Noire.

"Noire, she looks like you, so I'm assuming she's with you." Noire pushed Neptune off of her and dusted herself off.

"Yeah, that's Uni, my little sister."

"Hm..." Nodding, the girl returned to staring at Uni. "Hey." Startled, Uni pointed at herself. "I don't see anyone else up there, come down her so I can greet you properly."

"O-Okay." Climbing out of the cockpit, Uni searched for a place to land when she noticed Nepgear with his arms stretched out. "What are you doing?" Nepgear had a big smile on his face.

"Jump! I'll catch you!" Uni narrowed her eyes.

"What are you saying!? I can do this myself! So step back, I mean it!" Everyone moved away from the starship as Uni stepped off the cockpit and walked towards the wing of the ship. Because of the angle of the Gear-Wing's body, Uni's foot slipped and the girl bounced off the vehicle. "K-Kyaa!"

"Uni!" Noire took a step forward when a gust of wind rushed past her, a sharp shing reaching her ears.

Uni closed her eyes as fell closer and closer to the ground. Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms catch her, grunting as it negated the momentum of Uni's fall.

"Phew, made it!" A familiar voice reached her ears and Uni opened her eyes. Nepgear's smiling face was the first thing she saw. Eyes filled with worry, Nepgear looked over his friend. "Are you okay, Uni? You didn't get hurt did you?" Uni shook her head.

"Y-Yeah…" Uni then noticed their position: Nepgear was on one knee, carrying Uni by having one hand on her back and his other arm wrapped around the back of her knees. " _Thi-This… the princess carry!"_

"What is this, a shoujo manga?" Uni's eyes widened as she craned her neck past the worrying Nepgear. Neptune, Noire, and the girl next to them, who Uni assumed was Blanc, were watching from were they stood.

Noire had one foot out and her body was crouched just a bit. However, her face was covered in conplete shock but she was blushing a complete red. Blanc stayed indifferent and just rose an eyebrow. Neptune, on the other hand, her face was completely unreadable. Embarassed, Uni began to squirm and forced Nepgear to put her down.

Once she put down, Uni quickly walked away and coughed into her fist.

"...Thanks, Nepgear." Getting onto his feet, Nepgear's smile grew larger.

"No problem!" The girl who Uni thought was Blanc walked up to her and held out her arm.

"I'm Blanc, the CPU of Lowee, I'm glad you could come here today." Hesitantly, Uni shook hands with Blanc.

"Th-Thank you! I'm Uni, CPU Candidate of Lastation!" Blanc made a small smile.

"I figured since you look like a smaller clone of Noire." Uni raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? But you're smaller than me." Blanc's face changed immediately, startling Uni. Inhaling deeply, Blanc let out a sigh.

"Since this is out first time meeting, I'll let you off the hook." Uni bowed, fear written all over her face.

"S-Sorry!" When Uni straightened herself, Neptune appeared out of nowhere and glomped the Lowee CPU, knocking her hat off of Blanc's and miraculously land on Neptune's.

"Aw, come on Blanc. Take a chill pill and calm down." Neptune rubbed her cheek against the other girl, while Blanc had an indifferent look on her face.

"You should be the one to calm down." Neptune wrapped her arms around Blanc's neck and hugged the girl tight.

"Don't let being small make you mad!" Blanc narrowed her eyes. "Just cuddle with me!"

"Hold-"

"Yes, enjoy your size, Blanc. For you are not as mature and bountiful as I." Blanc's eye twitched.

"...And here comes the bigger pain." Vert walked up to Blanc and Neptune, arms wrapped under her chest to emphasize her bust.

"Thank you for the compliment, my dear friend." Rolling her eyes, Blanc pushed Neptune off of her, leaving Nepgear to help her sister up. "Anyways, thank you for coming on such short notice, Noire. Neptune."

"Hmph, you better be happy that I took time off my busy schedule to see you- N-Not like I was excited or anything!" Vert nodded as two small figures popped out behind her. They looked exactly like a smaller Blanc, wearing identical poofy hats and adorable looking coats. The girl with the shorter hair wore a baby blue version while the longer haired girl wore a hot pink version. Upon seeing Nepgear, the two looked at each other, the blue twin having a small smile on her face while the pink twin had a large grin, and ran towards the boy.

Nepgear had finally helped his dramatic sister off the floor when the twins tackled him with their mini bodies. Although, Nepgear didn't move, he was definitely startled.

"Goodness!" The boy looked down to see the twins hugging his legs.

"Yay! It's Nepgear!" The pink twin let go of Nepgear's leg, waving her arms in the air. "When are gonna go? When, when?" Nepgear raised an eyebrow as he looked at the energetic twin.

"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about Ram?" Nepgear felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down to see the quieter twin giving him a small smile with large shining eyes. "Rom?"

"Blanc said… That we we're gonna go to Super NintenLand!" Nepgear smiled and patted the girl on the head.

"Really?" Blanc walked up to Nepgear and handed him four tickets.

"Sorry, Nepgear. But this meeting will take a while and I don't want to bore Rom and Ram, so could you please play with them for a while?" Nepgear nodded, hoisting Rom into his arms.

"No problem!" Using his free hand, Nepgear patted the Gear-Wing. "That's why you asked me to modify the Gear-Wing and even sent me parts to fix it faster!" Blanc nodded.

"It's a selfish request." The Candidate of Planeptune shook his head.

"No, no! You gave me this beauty in the first place, it's the least I could do!" Blanc gave the boy a respectful bow.

"Thank you," Blanc turned to look at Uni. "I had originally planned to have Neptune go along with them to make the meeting less chaotic, but…" The CPU of Lowee stared at the Lastation Candidate. "I doubt you would be able to stand waiting here for about three hours?" Uni scratched her cheek.

"Th-Thank you for your consideration…" Blanc placed a hand on Uni's shoulder, pulling her closer.

"I know that we've just met, but I'll trust you to watch over these two since your Noire's sister." Uni nodded.

"R-Right." Blanc stepped away from Uni and walked back to the group of CPUs. Neptune had gotten over being pushed away by Blanc and began to dramatically hug Vert and Noire.

"Please, enjoy the trip." Neptune waved to Nepgear as she was pulled into the Basilicom by Blanc. Noire gave Uni a worried glance until Vert placed a hand on her back and whispered into her ear, causing the CPU to nod hesitantly and bid the Candidates goodbye.

"Hey, hey! Nepgear who's that?" Ram stared at Uni with a curious look in her eyes. From Nepgear's arms, Rom placed a hand over her mouth, tilting her head.

"Mr. Nepgear… who is she?" Shifting Rom to his other arm, Nepgear gestured to Uni.

"Rom, Ram. This is Uni, Lastation's CPU Candidate." Uni frowned for a second, but shook her head.

"Hey come on, Nepgear. At least let me introduce myself." Nepgear chuckled.

"Sorry, I'm really excited to be able to introduce a friend!" Ram frowned and put her arms on her hips.

"Hey dummy! We're your friends too!" Rom nodded with puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah…" Nepgear laughed.

"Sorry Rom. Sorry Ram. I forgot about that." Ram turned around and crossed her arms.

"Hmph! In that case, Nepgear will be known as the Forgetful Dummy!" Nepgear flinched at the new nickname.

"Eh!? D-Dummy is a little mean, Ram…"

"Too bad! For forgetting about us, you're gonna buy us ice cream Nepgear!"

"Ah…" Nepgear turned to Uni, his eyes begging for help. Nodding, Uni coughed.

"A-Anyways, we should get going. Right?" Rom and Ram threw their hands into the air, cheering. Thanking Uni, Nepgear now scooped up Ram.

"Alright, hold on tight." Crouching low, Nepgear hopped up to the plane's wing, kicking off of it and landing into the cockpit. The Lowee twins cried in glee as they were carried into the air. "Okay, not let me put on your seatbelts…" Nepgear peeked over the top cockpit and looked down to Uni. "I'll help you up in a second, Uni!"

Raising an eyebrow, Uni crossed her arms.

"I think I can handle myself, Nepgear." Nepgear blinked.

"Oh, okay then. Wha- Ram! Please secure the seat belt!" Uni stood still as she listened to her rival's surprise.

"Don't wanna~" After a second of Nepgear's struggle to follow safety protocol, Uni shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess, I should get up there too." Uni walked up to the wing of the plane, noticing that it was higher up than she thought. "...You can do this, Uni." The prepared herself and jumped with all her might, her fingertips grazing the edge of the wing. After a couple more tries, Uni stopped to catch her breath.

Meanwhile, Nepgear dropped down and looked at his friend, worried.

"Uni, are you okay?" Uni inhaled deeply.

"I'm… fine." Shrugging, Nepgear reached out and picked up Uni, princess style. "W-What are you doing!?"

"It'll be faster this way. Also, it might be rude to carry you over my shoulder and it'd be difficult to carry you like I did with Rom and Ram." Before Uni could attack Nepgear's reasoning, the boy had already hopped up to the cockpit and set the girl down. "There we go." Nepgear waited for Uni to get in her seat and looked back to the twins, who were examining the inside of the plane. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" Smiling, Nepgear front flipped into the air and landed in the pilot's seat.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Bashfully, Nepgear scratched the back of his head as Uni leaned back against her chair.

"I-I saw someone do that in a movie once, it looked pretty cool so I started doing it too." The startup panel for the Gear-Wing appeared and the boy began to input codes, where his fingers moved so fast that Uni could swear that the entire panel was lit up. "Alright, next stop: Super NintenLand!"

The Gear-Wing lifted into the air and turned towards the hangar door. At the same time, the hangar opened itself, cold winds carrying snowflakes rushing into the room. The Gear-Wing's engine roared to life as its thrusters flared alive. Boosting immediately, the Gear-Wing zipped out of the Lowee's Basilicom and towards the snowy blue sky.

* * *

Unlike the snowy capital of Lowee, the region surrounding Super NintenLand was bright and sunny. The amusement park's toy and pastel-like colors allowed it to stick out further from the rest of Lowee.

The Gear-Wing floated above Super NintenLand's parking lot. The wings of the plane folded up and slowy decended into a parking space. Opening the cockpit, Nepgear jumped out of the plane, examining the space between the plane and the other cars. Uni poked her head out of the cockpit.

"Hey, Nepgear..." When Nepgear gave Uni his attention, the girl continued. "Wouldn't be weird to have a plane sitting in the middle of a parking lot?" Nepgear put his hand over his mouth and tappped his foot.

"Ah!" Nepgear snapped his fingers and hopped back into the cockpit. "Rom, Ram." The twins now followed Uni and stuck their heads out.

"Yeah?"

"What is it, Mr. Nepgear?"

"Could you please step out of the Gear-Wing for a second?" Nodding, Rom and Ram allowed Nepgear to carry them out of the plane while Uni took the initiative and got out of the plane. This time she didn't slip. "Alright!" Nepgear shifted around until he found a button. Pushing the button, a holographic screen appeared in front of the boy, revealing the number ten.

As the countdown began, Nepgear jumped out of the plane, backflipping in the air and landing in front of the girls. Rom and Ram clapped in amazement while Uni crossed her arms.

"You did that to show off." Nepgear chuckled as the Gear-Wing was engulfed in a bright light. Once the light faded, the girls were treated to a car-version of the Gear-Wing. It had the same color scheme as the Gear-Wing and certain parts, especially the body, looked like the plane was remodeled into a car.

"When Neptune and everyone else want to shopping, they can't all ride IF's motorcycle. Instead, they asked to make the Gear-Wing be able to turn into a car!" Nepgear then pulled out the tickets and pulled one of the strips of paper from the bottom of the stack, peeling off the back and pressing into the windshield. "Now, everyone take off your gear!" All the girls stepped backwards, surprised, as Nepgear opened the trunk, oblivious to their reactions.

The Candidate of Planeptune removed the holsters off of his legs and placed his weapons inside the trunk. Turning to the girls, Nepgear gestured towards the trunk.

"Okay, please place your weapons here. We wouldn't want anyone to get in trouble do we?" The girls looked at each in relief as they followed Nepgear's instructions. Once they were done, Nepgear closed the trunk.

"Alright, Rom. Let's go!" Ram ran towards the amusement park entrance, with Rom at her heels.

"Wait for me, Ram!" Nepgear blinked as he watched the twins run ahead, tilting his head.

"Uni?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it me or do Rom and Ram look less… layered?" Nepgear looked at the trunk to see the Lowee twins' coats and hats lying between Uni's gun and Nepgear's unactivated sword. Placing the tickets into the trunk and grabbing the coats, Nepgear ran after them.

"Ram! Rom! You forgot your coats!" Realizing what Nepgear just left behind, Uni grabbed her bag and the tickets, watching the doors close and lock themselves once the owner was a considerable distance away from the vehicle.

"Nepgear! You forgot the tickets!"

* * *

Once they were inside, Rom and Ram found one of the amusement park's TurtRides and rode the reptile for a bit. However, in order to get the TurtRide to follow them, Uni bought a peach on a stick and let Ram hang it over the TurtRide's.

"Wheeee~!"

"Yay~." In reality, the TurtRide was going as fast as Nepgear and Uni could walk, but they didn't point it out.

As they were exploring the amusent park to find rides, Uni overheard people talking while Nepgear was trying to keep Rom and Ram from disappearing on the TurtRide.

" _Hey, look it's Lady Blanc's little sisters!"_

" _They're adorable! Hold on, isn't that boy with them from Planeptune?"_

" _I think so. Why?"_

" _Look at him, he's handsome!"_ Uni narrowed her eyes. The talks from IF, Neptune and Histoire echoed in her head.

" _Oh wait, who's that girl with them?"_ Biting her lip, Uni stepped closer to Nepgear, pressing her shoulder against his.

" _Sh-!"_

" _Wh-What?"_

" _I think they're dating…"_ Uni inhaled deeply, fighting back the blush on her face. " _So I have a feeling that he's taken."_

" _But what about Lady Rom and Lady Ram, why would they take them with them on a date?"_

" _They might've had to take them as a favor. Oh she's looking, we'd better go."_

" _Aw, man…"_ Uni watched the pair walk away and sighed in relief. " _I thought I was going to score too…"_

" _There's plenty of games in the world."_

"Uni? Is there something over there?" Nepgear leaned over Uni to see what she was looking at.

"H-Hey, get off-!" As she was trying to push Nepgear off of her, she saw Ram with a playful grin on her face and Rom with a happy smile. "Wh-What?" Ram's eyes glistened while Rom's shined in glee.

"Whoo! Your so bold, Uni!" Ram tried to make a whistle noise but in reality she was blowing a raspberry. Meanwhile, Rom attempted to copy her twin sister but instead just blew air out of her mouth.

"Wh-What are you saying, geez!" Uni turned away, frowning when Nepgear looked back at his companions confused.

"Hey, Nepgear! Let's ride that one!" After half an hour of wandering around, Ram pointed to a small rollercoaster. Leaving the TurtRide with an employee, the Candidates got in line. Nepgear looked around. Most of the people in line were kids and their parents.

"Mama?"

"Yes?" The boy in front of the Candidates pointed at Nepgear.

"Is he a kid too?" Surprised, Nepgear attempted to correct the boy, but his mother interrupted him.

"Now don't be rude, we don't judge people by their preferences. Except for perverts and lolicons, they're not good people. Okay?" The boy's mother patted him in the head and took his hand.

"Okay…" Sweatdropping, Nepgear sighed and returned his attention to his friends, who looked away from him, stifling giggles.

"Oh…"

* * *

"Ugh…" Nepgear placed his head on the table as Rom rubbed his back. "I didn't expect to get… nausea from that…"

"Are you okay?" Nepgear lifted his head for a second to smile at the small girl, only for his face to turn green and drop it back onto the table. "...You're not okay." At that moment, Ram came back, carrying curly fries and soda.

"I'm back!" Ram shakingly put the food and drinks on the table and patted Nepgear on the head. "Uni says you gotta eat or else you can't take stomach medicine." The boy hesitantly raised his head.

"Uni… has stomach medicine?" A tray carrying pizza with Hyper Mushies and Peppyronis suddenly landed in front of the three, along with a bottle of water.

"I do, actually." Uni reached into her bag, gently feeling Nepgear's gift inside. Luckily, security wasn't too fussy about since when she explained that it was a present. In fact, the security guard had a knowing look on her face and nudged Uni, telling her good luck. Shaking the memory out of her head, Uni found the stomach medicine and put in plain sight.

Slowly, Nepgear reached for a curly fry.

"...Thank you for the food…" The girls smiled at each other and began to dig into their own meals.

* * *

"Ah~! I feel better!" Nepgear grabbed a slice of pizza and began to chow down, his stomach feeling better after taking the medicine.

"Mr. Nepgear's better now. Yay~." Nepgear patted Rom on the head, much to the girl's glee. Ram, seeing this, pouted a little bit before grabbing a fry.

"Ram, say 'Ah~'." Smiling, Rom opened her mouth and happily chomped on the snack-slash-appetizer. Blinking, Nepgear also grabbed a fry and aimed at Uni. The girl flinched and backed away from the fry.

"Wh-What?" Nepgear gave a pure aura.

"Say 'Ah~'." Uni turned away, covering her eyes.

"Yeah, Uni~!" Ram planted herself on Uni's left side.

"You can do it." Rom on Uni's right.

"Uni, is there something wrong?" Nepgear pulled the fry back and began to examine it.

"N-no, there isn't." Glancing left and right, the girl could see the smaller Candidates' anxious stares. Sighing, Uni closed her eyes and leaned forwards.

"A-Ah…" Eyes shining, Nepgear put the fry up to Uni's mouth, who hesitantly took and ate it. Pulling away, Uni munched on the fry much to her companions' glee. However, as she quickly chewed the cut up potato wedge, Uni could hear mumbling behind her.

" _Did you see that?"_

" _That was so cute~!"_ Eyes still closed, Uni's cheeks dusted a light red as she grabbed her soda and downed the fry.

"Uh, Uni?" Uni opened one of her eyes as Nepgear pointed at the beverage. "I think that's mine." Both eyes wide open, Uni glanced to her portion of the table, where she could plainly see her drink on the table. The girl then slowly moved her gaze to Nepgear's spot on at the table, where his drink was missing.

Swallowing the mouthful of soda in her mouth, Uni placed the cup back in front of Nepgear, covering her mouth, looking away and coughing.

"S-Sorry." Nepgear shook his head, taking the drink.

"Oh, no. It's fine, really. Neptune does this all the time." Nepgear clamped his mouth over the straw and took a big gulp, causing Uni to flinch, before standing up. "I think I'll get a refill." Ram threw her arm into the air.

"Ooo! I'll go too!" Nodding, Nepgear and Ram headed towards the food court in order to refill their drinks. Meanwhile, Uni pressed her hands into her palms, slinking onto the table.

"Th-That was…." As Uni's face burned into the wooden surface, Rom reached over and gently patted her in the head.

"There, there."

"...Thank you, Rom." The small girl in blue smiled.

"Mhm!"

* * *

After Nepgear and Ram got refills, the Candidates decided to look around the park for more rides to enjoy. Rom and Ram wanted to ride more roller coasters but since they were too small to ride without a guardian and Nepgear didn't want to risk nausea again, leaving Uni to look after the two girls when they got in line.

"Hey, Uni?" The girl looked down to see Ram staring where Nepgear was sitting with their things. "Do you think Nepgear will be okay by himself?" Uni nodded her head.

"Yeah, Nepgear'll be fine." Rom nodded her head passionately.

"Mr. Nepgear will be okay!" Uni smiled softly as the girls tried to convince themselves.

" _Geez, they're acting like he's going to die or something."_

"Oh, Rom look! We're next!"

" _He's going to be fine… right?"_ The girl looked back to Nepgear, who was looking at his phone when he felt Uni's gaze. Making eye contact, the boy waved at his friend, smiling obliviously. Uni waved back and got into the roller coaster. " _What am I thinking? Of course he's going to be fine."_

The ride rose higher and higher as Uni was derailed by her thoughts.

" _Wait a second! Why am I so concerned about him all of a sudden?"_ As the roller coaster reached the peak, Uni shook her head, her eyes spiraling and her face turning red. " _N-No, we're rivals. I have to care about him a little bit. It doesn't go any further than that. Yeah, no further tha-"_

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

* * *

"Ah… That was fun!" Rom rubbed tears away from her eyes.

"Mhm, it was scary, but it was super fun!" Uni sighed as fixed her hair.

"Ah! Who's that?" Ram pointed towards Nepgear.

"...It looks like… big women." Freezing, Uni redirected her attention towards to where Nepgear sat. The boy was still sitting at the bench, her bag on his lap. However, that wasn't what she was looking at.

"Hey, hey. Come on let's go!"

"But… I'm waiting for my friends."

Just as Rom described, there were two women sitting next to Nepgear, both of them dressed in a way that was deemed… mature. And much to her horror, the women were indeed big, big in the right places.

"Pfft, we'd be much better friends than who ever you're talking about." The woman at Nepgear's right pressed herself against the boy's arm. Blinking, Nepgear shook his head.

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't think you can replace Uni. Or Ram. Or Rom." The other woman raised an eyebrow, wrapping her arms around Nepgear's.

"Oh? Isn't that cute, he's got three girls waiting on him." When the woman leaned up to Nepgear's ear, Uni inhaled deeply and turned to Rom and Ram.

"You two stay here." Uni narrowed her eyes and marched ti Nepgear's rescue.

"'Kay~" Ram grabbed onto Rom's hand and began swing back and forth, her twin sister placing her other hand over her mouth.

"R-Ram, will they be okay?" Shrugging her shoulders, Ram began to look around.

"Meh, those dummies are just dummy dums. Nepgear and Uni will be fi- Hey, what's that?" Ram pointed towards a shadowy bush.

"It looks…" Rom narrowed her eyes to see three pairs of rectangular sparkles. "...shiny."

Grinning from ear to ear, Ram pulled Rom towards the bushes.

"Someone might've left their credits! Come on!" Rom offered a little resistance.

"But… Miss Uni said to stay here." Ram frowned, pulling harder.

"Rom! We're close by, so they can see us! Also, what if someone else takes! We'll have missed out a chance to buy extra snacks!"

"O-Okay…"

* * *

Stomping over to Nepgear, Uni crossed her arms and coughed loudly.

"Nepgear, we have someplace to go."

"Ah, Uni!" Nepgear stood up, dropping the predators at his sides, and walked over to his friend. "Here you go!"

"Thanks." Taking her bag from Nepgear, Uni eyed the two women as they stood up and glared at her. One of them waved a hand at her, disgusted.

"This, is what you've been waiting for?" Nepgear's gaze hardened as they approached Uni. The CPU Candidate of Lastation began to glare, but held herself back.

"Hmph, she's so small." The other woman rolled her eyes. "What could she be worth?" Before Uni could retort, both women put their hands on a frowning Nepgear. "Come on, sweetie. Let's go pla-"

"And what's wrong with being small?" Suddenly, Nepgear pulled himself away and placed an around Uni. A smile appeared as the boy patted his friend on the back. "I see nothing wrong with it. Everyone has their own unique characteristics." Nepgear turned both himself away and took a couple steps forward, much to Uni's chagrin, before turning back to them. "Besides, I think Uni's cute the way she is." Uni covered her mouth as her cheeks brightened, exhaling as her heart thumped loudly against her chest. Remembering what Nepgear said about her, Uni immediately covered her chest with one arm and continued to cover her mouth with the other.

"Tch, he's one of those creeps." The two women turned and clicked clacked away, leaving a slightly upset Nepgear.

"Creep? They didn't have to say something so hurtful." Sighing, Nepgear turned to his friend. "Are you okay, Uni?" The girl shook her head.

"I should asking you that." Uni whipped her head in the direction of Nepgear's assailants. "Who let them in here? This is a children's amusement park."

"Well, it was meant for children."

"Same thing. Anyways, let's go. Those kids are probably bored out of their minds."

"O-Okay." The duo returned to where Rom and Ram were left, only to discover they weren't there.

"Wh-Where are they?" A little frantic, Uni turned to the left and to the right, her hands slowly crawling up her face as her pupils dilated. Nepgear turned around, scanning the area before heading off in a direction. "He-Hey, Nepgear! Wait up!" When Uni caught up to her rival, Nepgear was kneeling nearby some bushes.

"Uni, look." Nepgear held up Rom and Ram's hats. "They were lying right here." The boy pointed to the ground in front of him, where Uni noticed that some of the bush's leaves were quite a distance from where actual plant was.

"Nepgear, something's not right here." Nodding, Nepgear stood up and folded the hats neatly.

"Yeah, I think so too."

"Do you think that someone might've taken them?" Nepgear clenched a fist and gritted his teeth.

"I'm hope not." Uni and Nepgear ran a faint voice from the other side of the bush. Looking at each other, the duo ran around the bush and ran down the road, listening intently for the voice.

"Where did that come from?" Skidding to a stop, Nepgear glanced to the left and right, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm not sure but that sounded awfully like Ram…"

" _Let go you dumb weirdos!"_ Both Nepgear and Uni turned east, running as hard as they possibly could.

"From over there!" Uni and Nepgear burst through some bushes to find two men holding onto Rom and Ram uncomfortably. Rom's mouth was being covered as tears threatened to roll down her cheeks and Ram was squirming with all her might, but the man that held her down was surprisingly resilient in keeping her down.

The two men that were holding onto Rom and Ram were both fat and wore clothes that had fashion sense or didn't mesh well together. The one holding onto Ram was sweating, hopefully from the girl's resistance while the creeper holding Rom was breathing heavily, which terrified the small girl.

"Hey!" Uni pointed at the two men as Nepgear glared at them. "Let them go!"

"Oh?" From behind the man that was holding Ram, a thinner man appeared. Unlike his circular glasses sporting, black-haired companions, this man wore nerd-ike clothing. "I'm afraid not." Pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose, the nerd put his arms behind his back.

"Why not?" Uni crossed her arms as the nerd cleared his throat.

"We need them… for political reasons." Nepgear stepped forward.

"Ransom!?" The nerd shook his head.

"No…" Suddenly, the nerd's glasses shined as his eyes landed on Uni. "Actually, you may be suitable as well." Uni stepped backwards, a drop of sweat rolling down her face and her eyes shrinking in fear. The CPU Candidate of Lastation covered herself, her face shadowing in disgust.

"Ew! Y-You creep!" The nerd shook his head, raising his hands.

"You misunderstand our goals." The sounds of plastic crinkling came from behind the nerd's back as he produced a rolled up poster. Unraveling the poster, Nepgear and Uni were treated to three girls from a video game poster. The girls were dressed in Class-specific clothes: a priest, a mage and a gunner. The priest and mage were quite small and held each other closely. The priest was devoid of emotion while the mage had a giant smile on her energetic face. The gunner was standing beside them, holding up a pistol and winking. "This, is what we aspire!"

"What is…" Nepgear leaned closer, narrowing his eyes on the poster's title. "Four Goddesses Online?" Uni raised an eyebrow.

"That online MMO RPG?" A grin appeared on the three men's faces. Spreading out his arms, the nerd inhaled deeply as his cheeks shined a light pink.

"NOT JUST AN MMO RPG! FOUR GODDESSES ONLINE IS BEAUTIFUL!" The nerd's two companions appeared next to him, spreading their arms as well.

"It's LIFE!"

"It will live FOREVER!" Realizing that they had released Rom and Ram, Uni signaled Nepgear sneak over to where Ram was expressing disgust and Rom was trying to rub the tears off of her eyes.

"Bleck! Ew, soo gross!" Uni rubbed Rom's tears away as Nepgear returned their hats.

"It… It was so scary… and sweaty." Uni patted the girl's head as Nepgear huddle the girls together.

"There, there. Rom, it's going to be okay." Rom wrapped her arms around Uni as she wept into the girl's dress. Nepgear covered his mouth his hands and whispered to the girls.

"Okay, while they're distracted, we should g-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nepgear suddenly straightened out, his body convulsing.

"Hmph, that was very rude of you." Looking behind Nepgear, the nerd was holding a taser. Nepgear collapsed when the probes of the taser were yanked out of his body. "Now, let me get down to business." The nerd and his companions approached the Candidates and clapped their together, sparkles appearing around them.

"Would you please cosplay for us?" Uni wrapped her arms around Rom and Ram, glaring.

"NO!" Nepgear grunted as he struggled to look up at Uni. The nerds loomed over Nepgear as he glanced back at them. Turning back to the girls, Nepgear locked eye contact with Uni. Uni watched Nepgear slowly move his lips.

" _Run…"_ At that moment, Nepgear held up three fingers. Uni, faintly nodding so that Nepgear could notice, placed her hands over Rom and Ram.

"Well?" Rom quivered while Ram pouted as Uni pressed them closer to her.

Nepgear curled up a finger.

"Will you?" Two fingers curled.

"I…." Nepgear balled his hand into a fist.

"NOW!" Using all of his strength, Nepgear popped himself into a standing position and used one leg to take all of his weight as he used the other one to kick the nerd leader in the face. At that moment, Uni grabbed Rom and Ram, running the opposite direction. Once they were a considerable distance away from the nerds, Uni looked back to see Nepgear jump backwards, grabbing the man by the neck and dragging him into the floor, driving his chin into the ground.

"Nepgear!" Rom and Ram turned around and the girls were about to try and rescue to boy when Nepgear body tackled the third nerd.

"Run!"

"But…" Nepgear began to punch the third nerd into submission as electricity caused his body to stagger.

"Ru-AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The two nerds stood up, and the other one pulled another taser, puncturing Nepgear in the back. The third nerd crawled away from Negpear's range and fixed his glasses.

"Hey! Come back!" Uni pulled the twins away as the nerd pointed at them.

Moments after they ran away, Rom tripped over the pavement and skidded across the floor.

"Rom!" Ram shoved Uni's hand off of her and kneeled over her sister.

"Ouchie…" Uni turned back to see the figure of one of the nerds in the distance.

"Ram, hold this." Wrapping her bag over Ram's shoulders, Uni picked up Rom. "Rom hold on tight." Swinging Rom over her shoulder, Uni began carrying the girl piggyback style. "Come on!" Grabbing Ram's hand, Uni ran as fast as she could down the road, weaving through the crowd while ignoring the surprise of the amusement park goers.

"H-Hey, wait!" The nerd quickly stopped dead in his tracks, panting and sweating heavily. "Please… m-my adorable dark mage!"

* * *

"...I think we lost them." Uni slowed down to a stop to let her and Ram catch her breath. They had reached an empty road in the park, where people rarely go to because of the lack of attractions. Instead, this road appeared to be a leisure spot with the notable amount of benches that faced SuperNintenland's great castle. The castle was covered by the setting sun, creating a large black shadow over a large lake that it bordered. Uni placed Rom on one of the benches as Ram dropped herself onto the table next to her.

"My knee…" Rom pulled up her dress to reveal that her stocking had been torn and knee was scratched up, a little blood trailing down her leg. "It hurts." The girl sniffed as Ram tried to comfort her.

"Hold on." Uni inhaled deeply before reaching over to Ram and opening her bag. Shifting through the insides, Uni pulled out a small medical kit. "I don't have any potions on me so we'll have to do this the traditional way." The CPU of Lastation took out a small packet of antibiotics and a ball of cotton. Rom and Ram watched as Uni tore open the packet and prepared the medication. "Hang on, this might sting a bit."

Rom instinctively held onto Ram's hand while sister tightened her grip. The girl yelped as Uni disinfected the wound. After carefully cleaning the wound, Uni reached into her medical kit and produced two bandaids: a blue one with tiny birds on it and a pink one with kittens hugging a ball of yarn.

"Now which one do you want?" Uni smiled as Rom stared at the two bandaids.

"...I want… the blue birdies." Giggling to herself, Uni unwrapped the selected bandaid and gently placed it over the wound.

"Alright, all better now." Rom swung her leg around, smiling as there was a lack of pain in her leg.

"Th-Thank you, M-Miss Uni." Uni smiled.

"No problem!" Uni petted Rom on the head, causing the girl to giggle happily.

"Yeah, Rom! I'm here to- Ow!" Ram pulled up her hand, seeing a splinter embedded into her index finger. Grimacing, Ram attempted to shake the miniscule piece of wood off of her finger to no avail. Pouting, the girl attempted to pry it out of her finger, only to cringe as soon the splinter was touched. Sighing, Uni reached into her medical kit and pulled out a pair of tweezers.

"Hold still." Grabbing Ram's hand, Uni carefully plucked the splinter off of the girl's finger, much to her relief.

"H-Hey, can I get one of those bandaid thingies too?" When Uni was about reason that she didn't need one, she noticed that Ram was eyeing Rom's knee.

"Sure, do you want the pink one?" Ram's face lit and nodded.

"...And done!" Ram held her finger into the air, her face shining in amazement.

"Whaaa! Look Rom!" Rom smiled as Ram put her bandaged finger up to her knee.

"Hehehe, we match Ram." Uni scratched her cheek as began to put away the kit. As she placed the kit into the bag, the girl saw Nepgear's gift near her hand. Picking up the present, Uni sat down next to Ram and stared at the box.

" _Nepgear…"_ The twins watched Uni as she sighed.

"What is that?" Looking at the girls, Uni raised the box into the air before placing it on her lap.

"This? It's just a present for Nepgear." Ram's eyes shined upon hearing Nepgear's name.

"Ooooh~. Why are you givin it to him?" Backing away, Uni took her bag away from Ram and placed the box into its original place.

"I just owe him, that's all." Rom stared at the ground, a frown on her face.

"Is Mister Nepgear alright?" Both of the other girls stared at the sad Rom. Ram put on an angry face while Uni gripped the box tighter.

"Those jerks! Hurting Nepgear like that! When I see them again, I gonna beat up like 'Whapow!' and 'Kacha!'" Rom clapped as her twin sister punched the air.

"Wow, Ram. You're strong!" Ram gave her sister a peace sign with her hands. Uni stood up, clenching her fists together.

"I'm going to look for him." Uni stepped away from the bench and turned to the girls. "You two stay here." Rom and Ram looked at each other.

" _They should be fine since this place is so seclu-"_ "Wha-!" Uni was barely able to stop herself from falling over as the twins grabbed her from behind.

"Nuh-uh!"

"You're staying with us!" Uni turned around to see two tiny, but determined faces.

"But…" Uni took a deep breath then sighed. "Fine, but you're going to have to hold onto me tightly, okay?" Grinning at each other, Rom took Uni's right hand and Ram took her left.

"Kay~."

* * *

"Uni… I'm hungry." Forty-five minutes into searching for Nepgear, Ram announced her current predicament.

"Oh sure." Uni glanced around, finding a Chrizza stand nearby. "Want to go there?" Ram bounced up and down upon seeing the concession stand.

"Oooh, oooh~! Yes, yes!" Walking up to the stand, Uni pulled out her wallet.

"Excuse me?" The mustachioed man at the stand turned around, smiling from ear to ear.

"Ah, yes. How may I help you today?" The man's jolly accent sounded very similar to Lowee's mascot, but Uni let it slide.

"Three Chizzas please." At that moment, Rom and Ram peeked over the counter, staring at the man.

"Nah, just two." Rom nodded.

"Ram and I can share." Upon seeing the two, the man beamed in surprise.

"Ah, Lady Ram and Lady Rom!? What a day!" The concession man handed Uni the treats made of flour and brown sugar, but declined the money. "Please take it, take it! Seeing Lady Blanc's sisters is more than enough payment!"

"A-Are you sure?" Uni handed Ram the treat as the man nodded.

"Yes! Yes! Seeing people enjoy my Chizzas is my life, but seeing the Lady Blanc or her ssiters enjoy it is an honor for me!" Uni sweatdropped as the man turned and watched the twins split the Chizza in half and happily chew the bread sticks.

"Delish!"

"Yum~!" The man smiled before turning to Uni.

"Please, do go and eat it." Nodding, Uni opened her mouth.

"There they are!" Pulling the Chizza away, Uni saw the nerds behind them.

"Wha- You!" Uni pointed the snack at the nerds. "Where's Nepgear?" The main nerd pushed up his glasses.

"Your friend is out of the picture." Gritting her teeth, Uni pushed the twins behind her. "Now, join us and become the pride of our circle!" Uni felt her bag, feeling Nepgear's gift against her hand.

"Is there something wrong?"

" _I don't want to do this…"_

"Uh-huh, those guys are creepy!"

"Creepy?"

" _But I have to protect those girls…._ "

"Yeah, they wanna dress us up in cosplay and stuff and they totally wanna stare at us with their creeper eyes!"

"That's no good! How dare they attempt to defile my Ladys' purity! Here use these!"

" _I have to!"_

"But, don't you need to sell these?"

"No, this for the greater good! Use them!" Uni reached into her bag and gripped the box. Before she could pull it out, a Chizza flew past Uni and hit one of the nerds in the face.

"Take that creep!" Uni turned around to see Rom and Ram standing on top of the concession stand, with the man in charge of the stand rolling more dough.

"Got him!" Rom and Ram continued to chuck Chizzas at the nerds, gaining some interesting responses.

"AH! My eyes!"

"Brown sugar!? Oh no my allergies!"

"My mother put me on a diet!"

The nerds backed away little by little as the twins' assault on them continued relentlessly.

"Go, my Ladies! For Lowee!" Inspired by the man's words, the twins chucked the Chizzas harder, and faster.

The nerds' increased in intensity and consistency until ran away, covered in sugar and stray Chizzas. After a couple of moments, Uni walked forwards and scanned the area.

"They're gone!" Rom made a tiny fist bump while Ram jumped into the air.

"We did it!" The concession man crossed his arms and nodded his head.

"Another dream fulfilled… fighting alongside my Ladies." Uni noticed the Chizza what was still in her hand and took a bite. It was sweet and chewy. Sighing in relief, Uni turned around to see Rom and Ram running towards her.

"Good job you two!" The twins jumped into a hug, pressing their faces into Uni's stomach. Smiling, the Candidate patted the two on the head.

"What is going on here?" A pudgy security guard with a large pink nose and a crooked mustache appeared. The man looked at the Chizzas at the ground, then glared at the thinner Chizza stand man. "What did you DO?" Before he could chastise his co-worker Rom and Ram cut him off, appealing to the man's defense.

"These creepy men tried to kidnap us…"

"Yeah, yeah! And Mr. Chizza Man helped us!" The guard's eyes widened.

"HOLY MOLY! LADY ROM AND LADY RAM!? Someone tried to kidnap you!?" The security guard reached for his walkie talkie and held it close to his mouth. "Hey bro! Yeah, it's me. That loopy purple haired boy was telling the truth." The guard nodded. "Send a notice to everyone, I'll be on channel six." Sounds similar to an old TV without cable or signal emitted from the walkie talkie as the security guard pressed a button.

"Wait, purple haired boy?" Uni caught the attention of the security guard.

"Yes, I found this boy lying on the ground. When I picked him up, he tried to tell about these nerds attempting to kidnap his friends." Rom and Ram lit up.

"That's Nepgear!" Blinking, the security guard nodded.

"I will take to him, we go to the infirmary." The security guard turned and walked away after nodding to the Chizza man. Rom began bouncing up and down while Ram threw her arms into the air.

"Nepgear's okay!"

"Yay~!" Uni sighed in relief.

" _He's okay after all…"_ Uni placed her hand on Nepgear's gift.

"Ey! Are ya comin?" The girls looked at each other before running after the security guard.

* * *

After an intrigue amount of turns and corners, Uni and the girls reached the homely looking infirmary.

"I be going now." The security guard tipped his hat and went off on his way, with Rom and Ram waving good bye.

Opening the door, Uni walked inside to see a standard-looking infirmary and sitting on one of the beds was…

"Ah, Uni! Rom! Ram! You're okay!" Slowly, Nepgear got up from the bed and used it to keep his balance as he stood up.

"Nepg-" Rom and Ram ran past the girl and hugged Nepgear tightly.

"Mr. Nepgear…" Rom sniffled into Nepgear's flight jacket. "We were so scared…" The boy hugged his friends close.

"Yeah… don't do that again dummy! We thought you were gonna die!" Nepgear patted Ram on the head.

"I'm okay, Ram. I was paralyzed. The medics here gave me a Paralaxin and then an Anti-Paralysis just in case." Nepgear looked up to Uni and smiled. "Thanks for taking care of them, Uni." The girl crossed her arms and fought back a blush and a smile.

"No problem, j-just don't do that again alright?" Nepgear nodded.

"Hey, Nepgear…" The boy looked down to see Ram rubbing her eyes. "Can we go home?" As if on cue, Rom let out a huge yawn. Chuckling, Nepgear lifted both of the twins into his arms.

"Sure." Nepgear nodded to Uni. "Can you lead the way Uni?" Uni nodded, a grin on her face.

"Got it."

* * *

"Wow, that was quite a day…" Arriving at the Gear-Wing, Nepgear handed Ram to Uni and shifted Rom to his back before pressing the touch screen of his N-Gear. The car was engulfed in a light and the vehicle reverted back to its plane form.

"You're telling me…" Nepgear hopped into the cockpit, placing a sleeping Ram into the back before reaching for Rom. After placing the other Loweean twin inside the plane, Nepgear helped Uni into the plane. "At least we get to go home now." Nepgear started the Gear-Wing and headed off towards Lowee.

"Ah… I'm tired." Nepgear set the plane to autopilot and leaned against his chair. "Well, we got some time to talk." Checking behind him, Nepgear smiled as he saw the twins sleeping under the blankets that they had put over them. "...They must have had a lot of fun."

"Yeah, until those creeps showed up." Laughing awkwardly, Nepgear stretched and turned to face Uni.

"I really enjoyed today, Uni." Smiling, Uni stared at her bag.

"Mm…"

"What's wrong?" Inhaling sharply, Uni reached into the bag and pulled out the box.

"Here." Nepgear took the box and stared at it.

"A present?"

"Hurry up and open it!" Surprised, Nepgear unraveled the present wrapping and revealed a black box, the exact one that he had given to Uni. Raising an eyebrow, Nepgear opened the box, his eyes lighting up.

"Th-This is…!" Nepgear placed the box aside and pulled out the pistol. It was similar to the N-Buster but it had a sleeker design and was more compact, along with a purple outline to it. "It looks exactly like the one I designed!" Uni scratched her cheek as Nepgear examined the parts and pieces of the pistol.

"I had to change a part, since having a charging function wasn't going to work with that kind of design." However, Nepgear didn't seem to mind it all.

"This is amazing! Thanks, Uni!" The girl smiled.

" _I guess that makes us even then."_

"I'm gonna call it the Gear-Buster!"

"...What's with that uncreative name?"

* * *

When the Gear-Wing had landed back in the hangar, the CPUs were already waiting. Uni and Nepgear helped the still sleeping Rom and Ram out of the plane as the CPUs approached them.

"Welcome back." Nepgear turned around, carrying Ram in his arms. Blanc and Vert were carrying two piles of clothing while Neptune had a very cheery look on her face while Noire had trouble not glancing at Blanc and Vert. "Neptune, Noire. Can you take the twins back to their room?"

"Oh, so you wanna break the news to them?" Blanc nodded and Neptune grinned, patting her friend on the back. "Come on tiny loud Blanc, let's get you to bed." Noire silently took Rom from Uni, asking her to tell about what they did tomorrow, as well as bidding her good night.

"So, did you have fun?" Nepgear and Uni nodded as Blanc handed a pile of purple clothes to Nepgear and Vert handed a black variation to Uni.

"What is this?" Vert smiled.

"They're pajamas, we had Neptune and Noire help us find the specific measurements so that they would fit you perfectly."

"Why would you do that?" Blanc inhaled deeply.

"We've asked that you and your sisters stay for a ceremony tomorrow." Nepgear and Uni looked at each other quizzically.

"A ceremony?" Smiling ever so brightly, Vert placed her arms on Blanc's shoulders.

"Blanc, darling. I think we should just tell them." Uni reacted to Vert's use of 'darling'.

"Wait, what do you mean by darling!?" Blanc reached for one of Vert's hands and held it tightly while Vert giggled.

"Nepgear, Uni. We've told your sisters already but…" Blanc nodded to Vert.

"Blanc and I are unifying our countries!" The duo blinked, looked at each other, then blinked again.

"Unifying? As in… combining?" Nepgear scratched his head. "How would that work?" Blanc cleared her throat.

"Well, there in the rules of war, there are two main ways of unifying countries: One, conquest." Vert pulled Blanc closer to her.

"And the second one, marriage." Uni closed her eyes as she put the pieces together.

"Wait, from the looks of it… you two are conquering each other." Vert giggled once more.

"Well, I did conquer something." Blanc raised an eyebrow.

"Oi."

"Kidding, kidding." Vert turned her head to the side. " _Well, I did."_ Uni's eyes widened.

"Th-That means…!" Blanc and Vert raised their hands, revealing identical white and green rings on their ring fingers.

"Vert and I are getting married, and we'd like you to be there." Silence.

…

…

Vert raised a hand in front of the duo's faces, but Uni was too shocked to respond and Nepgear was too amazed.

"Blanc?"

"Yeah?"

"We should help them get to bed."

"Sure, but I'm dressing Nepgear." Vert pouted, pressing her chin against Blanc's head.

"Aw, but why?"

"Knowing you, you'd dress up Nepgear into a butler outfit rather than his pajamas." Vert giggled.

"Hehe~, you're right."


	4. Awakening

Awakening

* * *

Yawning, Uni woke up, in unfamiliar black pajamas that had light blue stars that were sprinkled throughout her outfit. When she tried to move, she noticed that two arms were holding her down. One arm was wrapped around her torso, leading to her left while another arm was sprawled across her shoulder leading to her right.

"Who is…?" Looking to her left, Uni found a sleeping Rom cuddled up to her stomach while Ram appeared to have rolled around in her sleep, finally settling upon lying face up and her arms outstretched. "Oh geez…" Shaking her head, a smile formed on the girl's mouth as Rom snuggled closer to the Lastation Candidate. Looking around for a clock, Uni found one off to the side that displayed the time: 5:50 AM.

" _It's a little early, but…"_ Uni gently removed Rom's arm off of her torso and moved Ram's arm off her shoulder. Getting out of bed, the girl heard one of the twins mumble in their sleep. Uni turned around to see Rom shuffle her way over to Ram, half asleep, and wrap her arms around her sister. " _Aw. that's cute…"_ Uni shook her head and got dressed into a pair of dark blue shorts and a black shirt that transitioned into black stripes over white upon reaching her shoulders that she had kept in her bag just in case. Tying her hair up with pink ribbons and leaving her things inside the twins' room, Uni decided to go for a walk around Lowee's Basilicom.

* * *

Uni traveled throughout the Basilicom, finding mostly the Basilicom's workers cleaning the hallways or preparing the building for another hard day of work. Before returning to the living quarters, the girl decided to return the hangar where the Gear-Wing was stored.

Upon entering the hangar, the girl found Nepgear asleep, lying against his plane.

"What is he doing here?" Uni noticed the newly christened Gear-Buster in Nepgear's hands, finger away from the trigger. Turning around, Uni found empty bottles of Nep Bull strewn about a table, some of them lying on the floor with bullet holes in them. "Did he really spend all night practicing with this?" Picking up a bottle, Uni looked at the holes within the bottle. There were holes that came out in different angles, as if Nepgear was trying to shoot the bottle in the air. " _He's working hard…"_ Uni bit her lip; she worked hard too, but not as hard as this. Nepgear was getting ahead of her again.

"...Uni." Letting out a cry of surprise, which she cut short with her mouth, Uni turned around to see Nepgear curl into a ball. "Let's make…" Immediately, the girl's face flushed red. Uni tried to step backwards, slipping on a Nep Bull bottle and falling on her rear.

" _There's no way! No way that he-"_

"...curry together." Nepgear's Gear-Buster gently plopped onto the ground. Uni blinked her eyes, then sighed.

"What kind of dream was that?" Standing up, Uni dusted herself off and picked up the Gear-Buster. As she was about to turn away and place it on the table, Uni noticed Nepgear shiver just a little bit. " _He's cold."_

Looking around, Uni noticed a folded up blanket, a pillow and a chair nearby. The Lastation Candidate placed her arms at her hips.

"He owes me for this one."

* * *

Eventually, Blanc and everyone else, minus Nepgear, had woken up. Mina, Lowee's Oracle, had cooked up a bountiful breakfast and everyone dug in. Uni had been given eggs, bacon, and sausages. When Uni was close to finishing, Mina would urge her to take some more. The girl could hardly complain, since the food was so delicious.

"Mmm… Morning." Nepgear walked in, rubbing the back of his neck. A chorus of 'Morning's, greeted the boy. Sitting down next to Neptune, the boy's older sister looked at her brother, a little concerned.

"Hey, Nep Jr. are you alright?" Nepgear nodded, nursing his neck.

"Yeah, I'm alright. It's just…" Neptune cocked her head to the side, shoving an egg into her mouth.

"Just?"

"I woke up covered in a blanket and lying a pillow." Nepgear craned his neck, stretching his neck for a second before sighing. "I'm so used to sleeping on the floor, that I don't get back pain. So, this time I woke up with a sore neck… I'm not really used to it." Uni stared at her food, poking at extra egg she had been given.

"What's wrong Uni?" The girl avoided Nepgear's gaze and cut up her egg.

"N-Nothing…" After a second, Nepgear shrugged and began eating. Sighing, Uni finished her food and left her plate in the sink for Mina to wash.

"Nepgear, why are you in such a messy state?" Vert picked a piece of her egg with her fork and held it in the air as she stared at the Candidate. The boy scratched the back of his head.

"I was in the hangar, testing out the Gear-Buster." Blanc raised an eyebrow.

"Gear-Buster?" Nepgear smiled.

"It's my brand new custom-made pistol that Uni built." Turning to his friend, Nepgear smiled brightly while the girl bashfully waved. Sighing, Vert placed her fork down.

"That's not good, Nepgear. A gentleman must be both polite and clean." Vert stared at Nepgear, shaking her head. "When you are finished eating, go take a bath. I will have your clothes ready for you while you clean yourself." Nepgear nodded and hastily ate his breakfast.

"..." Uni watched Nepgear eat a little longer before heading to the doorway. "I'm gonna sit in the living room." A chorus of "Okay"s answered her.

* * *

While Uni was in the living room, the girl decided to look through some of Blanc's collection of books. Scanning through the bookshelf, a certain title caught Uni's eyes. Finger pressed against the book's spine, Uni looked to her sides before reading the title of the book again.

" _Bonds_?" Uni flipped the cover. "A story about two bitter rivals finding true love!?" Blushing a dark red, Uni held the cover of the book close to her. Turning to the TV that was across the room, the girl could see her older sister and Neptune playing that new racing game Blanc had put out months before. It appears that Noire was ahead of Neptune by one place and the other CPU was using everything in her power to pass her.

"He-Hey, get off me!"

"Distraction gooooo!" Everything.

"Huh…." Sweatdropping, Uni walked over to the area Neptune and Blanc were playing and sat down, opening the book.

While she was reading, Uni could hear Rom and Ram run into the room, as their cheery mood and… cheers, caught her ear.

"Are… you playing Maria Kart?"

"Ooh! I wanna play too!" Uni glanced up to see Blanc sit down, a book, which was thick enough to be Histoire's tome, lay in her lap. Catching her gaze, Blanc quietly shifted her head towards Uni.

"D.K. Rolling?" Blinking, Uni looked at Blanc, who nodded and opened her own book. "Rolling is a good author, you'll learn a lot. Especially that book." As Blanc covered her face with her book, Uni barely had time to see Blanc make a smirk.

Sweatdropping, Uni pushed Blanc's advice to the back of her head and continued reading her novel.

"I'm back~." After reading a good portion of the novel, Uni looked up upon hearing Vert's voice as she picked up Blanc's hat and leaned on top of her beloved. Without glancing up, Blanc flipped a page as Vert put on her hat.

"Hey." Frowning at her reaction, Vert slinked her arms around Blanc's neck, nuzzling her face into Blanc's cheek. "What were you doing?" A twinkle appeared in the Leanbox goddess's eye.

"Just a little preparation." Returning to her book, Uni heard the door open.

"Everyone, tea's ready!" Nepgear's voice rang out and Uni pulled the book closer to her face.

"Ah, Nep J- Nepu!" The sounds of Neptune dropping her controller and the thumps of her feet hitting the soft rug echoed as she approached her brother. "What's up with the new kicks, Nepgear?" Uni could hear her rival chuckle awkwardly.

"Well, Vert said this was all she had for me." A grunt was emitted from Blanc's throat.

"Vert." The snap of a book closing.

"Yes?"

"I should have guessed it." Uni could hear Blanc place her book on the table. "Come on." Blanc stepped away from Uni's hearing range and from the evidence that there were more footsteps than just Blanc's, the girl could guess that Vert had not let go of her lover.

"Where are we going?"

"We're gonna buy Nepgear some clothes. If we have a distraction, we'll never finish preparations."

"Aw, don't be rash dear. It won't be that distracting."

"For you, it will." Vert giggled.

"Oh my, you may sound straight laced, but in reality you're just jealous." A grunt of surprise emitted from Blanc and Vert sounded like she got the jackpot. "OH Blanc! You are so adorable!"

"He-Hey!? Let me go!" Vert giggled again as the door opened.

"Nepgear, we will be out for a while so please wear for now. Blanc and I will find the perfect clothes for you."

"O-Okay…"

"And I might find the perfect butler outfit for Blanc too."

"O-Oi!" Before Blanc could protest, the door was closed and her voice was snuffed out by the thick walls that separated them.

"...So, here's your tea, Neptune." The Planeptune CPU cheered. "Oh, becareful. It's really hot."

"Oh I know, Nep Jr. Don't leave your knickers in a knot."

"...Okay. Noire, here's your share."

"Oh, thank you. Nep...gear."

"Rom. Ram. Mina put milk in this for you."

"Yay~!"

"Thank you, Mr. Nepgear." Uni heard Nepgear's footsteps as he approached her. The clank of the cup hitting the small round glass table resounded next to her.

"Here you go, Uni." Quickly closing her book and discretely hiding the title with her fingers, luckily for her it was a paperback edition, Uni sighed and turned toward her rival.

"Th-Thanks, NepgEAR!?" The boy blinked in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Uni looked at the Candidate in front of her. The person in front of her was still Nepgear… but what he wore stunned her.

Nepgear was wearing a classy white dress shirt and a light purple vest adorned with white silver buttons with matching slacks. The boy's hair was pulled slightly back and all of his hair at the back of his head was held back by a black hairband. Although he still wore his d-pad hairclip and pudding pin, which helped Uni identify this elegant looking butler as her rival.

"N-Nothing…" Uni placed her book facedown on the table and reached for the cup. As she was taking a sip, Nepgear stared at the back.

"What's this?" Suddenly, Uni's hand covered the summary that Nepgear was reading.

" _He almost saw that!"_

"G-Goodness, Uni! I was just curious about the book." Revealing a pained puppy-dog look, Nepgear looked downwards, which was imitated by his posture.

" _Uwa… he looks like a dog that was kicked…"_

"Uh… You wouldn't want to read this… It's a horror novel with blood and guts and all that." Almost immediately, Nepgear stepped back as his face paled.

"... Yeah, yo-you're right." Nepgear looked at the empty plate in his hands. "I-I'm going to put this away." Uni nodded as Nepgear rushed out of the room.

"Does Blanc have horror books, Ram?"

"Eh, I don't know. Probably not."

* * *

About an hour later, Nepgear joined everyone but Uni at the TV, watching from the couch. Rom was pushing buttons at a flustered rate, missing the right buttons at the worst moments. Ram was demolishing her controller, as if she was playing Hyper Mash Sisters: Wiilee. Noire and Neptune…

"I said get off me!"

"Distraction! GOOO!" They were still at it.

Uni had gotten to a decent spot to stop, repeating the page number three times in her head before closing the book and returning to its rightful spot in Blanc's shelf.

"I should find that book when we get home…" Shaking her head and rubbing her eyes a bit, Uni walked over to the TV and sat down next to the butler-clad Nepgear. "So, what's happening?"

"Oh, you're done reading? Well, they're still playing Maria Kart and Ram keeps winning."

"Heh…" Uni leaned against the couch and stretched her arms and legs, which were weary from sitting for so long. "Hey, can I play?" Rom turned around and nodded, standing up and walking over to Uni, careful not to trip over the controllers' wires. Upon reaching the Lastation Candidate, Rom climbed up Uni's legs and sat on her lap. "Wha-!?"

"Hehe…" Rom happily handed the controller to the flustered Uni and leaned against her chest.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Taking off her hat, Rom looked up, bright shiny blue eyes staring up at Uni.

"Miss Uni is comfortable." A small smile appeared on the Lastation Candidate's face, although it was a little crooked as she considered her situation.

"Th-thanks…" Uni glanced to the side, seeing Nepgear just smile.

"Aw, that's nice." Looking back, Ram walked over to the other Candidates, leaving Noire to fight off a distracting Neptune by herself, even though she's been doing that all by herself the whole time.

"Hey, Nepgear." The boy turned to look at the pink Lowee Candidate.

"Yes, Ram?" Ram pressed her arm against Nepgear's side.

"I wanna sit next to Rom, so move it." Chuckling, Nepgear scooted to the side and allowed Ram to climb up onto the couch. "There! That's better."

At that moment, the door opened a little bit and a blushing Blanc popped her head into the room.

"Nepgear." The boy turned around to see Blanc stick her arm out, a bag filled with clothes with the logo L&L on it. "Here." Suddenly, a hand gently wrapped itself around Blanc's cheek.

"Hurry now, Blanc! I want to see you in these outfits!" Blanc's face showed signs of struggling as she dropped the bag in order to use both hands to grip onto the door.

"No! I'm not wearing those!" Blanc's head was pulled in leaving only her fingers visible. Vert's mischievous giggle could be heard as Blanc's grip loosened.

"Come now, you promised~."

"Hey!" The door slammed shut as the bag containing Nepgear's clothes fell over.

"I guess I'll get changed then." Nepgear stood up and walked over to the bag. Picking it up, the boy opened the door and waved to the others at the TV. "I'll be back."

"Take your time." Uni waved to her rival before partaking in the race. As soon as the door closed, Rom and Ram looked at each other, nodding.

"Hey, Uni." Ram pressed herself against Uni's side, dropping her controller as Rom nuzzled against the Lastation Candidate.

"Yeah?" Uni held down on the right bumper, slightly amused by the Lowee twins' affection.

"...Do you, like Mister Nepgear?" Raising an eyebrow, Uni kept her thumb pressed against the A button.

"Like? Well, Nepgear's a nice guy." Ram shook her head.

"No! No! No! Dummy, we mean like like!" Uni's fingers pushed the controller out of her hands.

"Wh-What are you talking about!?" Noire paused the game and turned around.

"What do you mean that Uni-" Neptune took the chance and bodied the Lastation CPU.

"DISTRACTION!" The Planeptune CPU wrapped her arms around Noire, tackling her to the floor.

"Gyaaa!" Glancing at the struggling Noire, Uni felt Rom and Ram press closer to her.

"Well, do ya?"

"Yeah… do you?" Uni absentmindedly wrapped her arms around Rom and pressed her chin against the crown of her head.

" _I see Nepgear as a rival… but…"_ Uni thought back to the to the day that they first met. Their first Quest… On that day, Uni never would have thought that she would have gotten closer to the boy. " _Yet…"_ Now, memories of when Uni challenged Nepgear to duels on the premise of being rivals. " _Now that I think about it… whenever I asked him to duel me, I was always so happy…"_ Faintly smiling, Uni snuggled against Rom, who smiled happily, as she remembered when Nepgear invited her over. " _Then I learned about Nepgear's… I guess his past is tragic."_ Uni remembered how protective she was about the boy. " _And then he gave me the N-Buster MKII…"_ Ram forced her way into the hug and Uni blankly nuzzled the other twin, who was a little disturbed about it. " _Come to think of it… I spent most of our day trying to reassure myself into thinking that Nepgear was my rival…"_ Raising her head, Uni stared at the two pairs of eyes that sat in her lap and cuddled in her arms. " _If it wasn't for these two… I wouldn't feel as comfortable in Lowee."_ Uni hugged Rom and Ram, who both hugged her back out of happiness. " _And that was because Nepgear introduced me to them…"_

"Ne, Uni?" Uni looked at Ram.

"Mmm?" Rom leaned on her sister, pressing her cheek against Ram's.

"Do you hate Nepgear?" It was at that moment Uni was able to give a straight answer.

"No! How could I hate him!" The twins looked at her and shared looks of accomplishment.

"So then you like him!" Uni bit her lip.

"Well, I guess not like…" Before the girls could press Uni further, the door opened and Nepgear walked in. He wore a dress shirt that looked similar to Neptune's hoodie, but had Lowee's light blue colors rather than Planeptune's purple. Also, he wore white cargo pants and Nepgear had fixed his hair to look more Nepgear-like than butler-like.

"Sorry I took a while." Seeing Uni, Rom and Ram holding each other close, Nepgear's eyes shined. "OH! Are you guys having a group hug!? I wanna join too!" Startled, Uni gaped as Nepgear clasped his hands together. Rom and Ram looked at each other once more, this time having mischievous smiles.

"...Yeah."

"Wh-What! Rom!" Ram, along with Rom, pulled Uni's arms apart, leaving space in between the two of them.

"Come on, Nepgear! Hurry up before I change my mind!"

"R-Ram!?" Grinning from ear to ear, Nepgear inhaled deeply and ran towards the group.

"W-Wait, Nepgear- KYAAA!?"

"Uni, are yo- Neptune, GET OFF ME!"

"No! I must distract you so that I'll win!"

"I paused the game!" "Distractioooooooooooooooon!"

* * *

Eventually, Neptune won the race and Nepgear got his wishes in being in a group hug. At the same time, Blanc and Vert returned, the former blushing with an exhausted look on her face while the latter seemed extremely satisfied.

"Sorry for the wait." Neptune got up from her spot at the TV and skipped over to the bethrothed CPUs.

"So, we gonna start planning or what?" The Candidates looked at Blanc, confused.

"Hold on…"

"You don't mean…"

" _You're not having the wedding yet?"_ Vert just smiled while Blanc glanced to the side.

"No… but the wedding will be soon. We just have to finalize the plans… and announce our wedding." Before either Nepgear or Uni could pressure Blanc, her fiancee answer their unspoken question.

"Blanc and I have kept this affiar a secret. So hidden that the only people who know this are: the people in this room and our Oracles." Vert clapped her hands together. "Now, let us get some preparing done!" The CPUs and Candidates cheered as Vert turned her head to the side. " _So Blanc and I can celebrate with a session of 4 Goddesses Online."_

As Vert began to fantasize her date with Blanc in a virtual fantasy realm that was held within a fantasy world based on virtual reality, Blanc felt a chill run down her spine.

* * *

Days into preparations, Blanc and Vert announced their marriage, which was met with little resistance, surprisingly. One day during a break, Blanc and Vert looked at their Chirpers.

" _Whoooot! BlancxVert 4 life!"_

" _No you idiot! It's VertxBlanc!"_

" _Isn't it the same thing!"_

Blanc leaned onto Vert, who happily wrapped her arm around her smaller lover. From outside, Rom and Ram watched their sister cuddle.

"Wow~, Blanc looks super happy!"

"Mhm! Miss Vert is really nice to have as a big sister too." As the twins smiled, Nepgear turned the corner, carrying a pile of boxes. The boy had received his clothes and extra sets from Histoire when he told her the situation. Although, in reality, the Oracle had sent them in advance but Vert put them aside so that she could get Nepgear in a butler outfit AND spend some alone time with her Blanny-Blanny-Bi.

"Ah, Rom! Ram! Come and help Uni load these into the Gear-Wing." The twins turned away from Blanc and Vert's scene and began pushing Nepgear down the hallway.

"Okay~!"

"Hehe…~"

"Wait, don't push me! I might dro- Hold on, the Gear-Wing is that way!"

"We're gonna take a shortcut!"

"Eh? But isn't this the shortcut?"

* * *

At some point, Blanc and Vert sent the Candidates out to find dresses to wear. Neptune and Noire accompanied them in order to make sure that their decisions were elegant, cute and appropriate, for Blanc's standards, for the wedding.

"Look Ram! Isn't this cute~?"

"Oooooh~, I wonder if there's a pink one to match it."

"Uni, remember that your dress will represent Lastation's standards in formal attire."

"Y-Yeah…"

"Oh, come on Strict Heart, let Mini-Noire choose what to wear. Just cause you want her to look sexy doesn't mean you have to make her as lonely as you~."

"I am not lonely! Grr! You keep saying that!"

"Se-Sexy!? ...Wait, what do you mean Mini-Noire!?"

Meanwhile…

"Um, Vert?" Nepgear sat in Blanc's room, reading one of her various novels. Vert was doing her dailies in 4 Goddesses Online while Blanc was in her zone, typing in a trance while making a creepy yet satisfied smile.

"My, what is it Nepgear?"

"Why can't I go with everyone to get my suit? It would have been faster to get it along with them." Vert logged out of her game and sighed.

"Nepgear, a young man mustn't intrude on fair ladies, especially when they're shopping for wedding dresses. A husband must never see the bride's dress until their marriage or else tragedy will befall them!" Blanc paused in her finger movements, but continued on typing.

"...But, I'm not the one getting married. You and Blanc are."

"Oh, it applies to bridesmaids as well. Besides, I already have the suit picked out for you~. I just need your measurements."

"It wouldn't be another butler outfit would it?" Blanc stopped typing and spun her chair around.

"..." Vert began to sweat as she felt Blanc's piercing gaze.

"N-Nonsense! There is nothing butler-like about it." A grunt and Blanc spun around, the typing restarting. Vert sighed in relief.

"Oh, okay then. Thank you, Vert. This is very nice of you." Vert smiled.

"You welcome." Nepgear resumed reading while Vert now sighed in disappointment. " _I suppose I should cancel the order and pick an appropriate one,"_ Upon hearing her fiancee's sigh, Blanc smirked.

* * *

Soon, some of the plans have been made. Blanc and Vert decided on a fusion of traditional Loweean and Leanboxian weddings, Neptune would be Blanc's Maid of Honor/ Best CPU while Noire would be Vert's. Rom, Ram and Uni would be flower girls and Nepgear would be the ring-bearer. Mina would act as the priest for the actual wedding and Chika, Vert's Oracle, would act as the MC for the party.

IF would appear as the Guild's representative and because Vert wouldn't want anyone else. Compa would go in place of her grandfather as he was currently at a doctor's convention.

Histoire and Kei, Noire's Oracle, would appear as Planeptune and Lastation's representatives respectively since their CPUs are to be part of the wedding itself.

Eventually, the rest of the plans would fall into place. But…

"Neptune, wake up geez!"

"One kangaroo jumped over the fence… Two kangaroos… Three Kan...ga… Zzz…"

"Neptune!"

*Smack!*

"Youwch!?" The practices could have gone better.

"Gah!"

"Nepgear, are you okay!?"

"I'm fine, I just fell… Wait, where did the rings go!?" Blanc facepalmed and Vert sighed.

"Look Ram! These are pff- fham- phamflits."

"Hamchicks? Ha ha! What a dumb name!" The practices were far away from being okay.

Time passed and the actual day of the wedding had arrived. Guests arrived at a decent pace. IF, Noire and Compa directed people to their spots while Rom, Ram and Neptune entertained whomever they could get. Nepgear was nowhere to be found, possibly helping people settle down. Mina was preparing the ritual for the wedding, Chika was biting into a handkerchief, Histoire was chatting with Kei. Finally, Vert and Blanc were in separating rooms, getting ready for their big day.

While everyone was doing their own thing, wandering around the church. Blanc had asked Uni to check up on the deliveries for flowers and other necessities. Naturally, Uni organized them neatly and now she was done. Heading to the bathroom, the Lastation Candidate washed her hands.

" _Hey, do you see that girl?"_ Uni paused before continuing to lathering her hands with soap.

" _She looks pretty in that dress."_ Uni's dress was a midnight black, cutting off above her ankles. The dress was adorned with frills on the ends of the dress and had no sleeves or shoulder straps, which was held together by a zipper at the back. Uni replaced her usual ribbons with light pink ones that were tied into the shape of a bowtie. On her wrist were a couple of bracelets, two of them: one of them was white and carried Lowee's crest on it while the other one was green with Leanbox's crest.

" _Should we ask her if she would be okay with seeing my son?"_ Now uncomfortable, Uni finished washing her hands and dried them, leaving the restroom as fast as she could.

"What was that?" Uni shook the blush out of her head, smacking her cheeks for good measure.

"Ah, Uni~!" Looking to the side, Nepgear could be seen down the hallway, waving his hand. Nepgear was wearing a white suit. The sleeves of his suit looked similar to his flight jacket, but the boy pulled his sleeves so that the new watch that he got from Blanc could be seen easier. His matching slacks were loose and comfortable at the same time. Under his suit, Nepgear wore a light green tie over his light purple dress shirt. One of his cufflinks was green while the other was white. "I found you!" Happily running over to Uni, Nepgear's green and white dress shoes tapped silently against the carpeted floor until he skidded against the floor, grinning at his friend.

"Nepgear, where were you?" The boy scratched the back of his head.

"Actually, I just got here." Uni sweatdropped.

"Really?" Nodding, Nepgear reached into his pocket and pulled a small black box.

"Blanc and Vert had me pick this up before I headed here since I had my own vehicle." Returning the box back into his pocket, Nepgear sighed. "...But the person they asked to make the rings was very… specific." Uni raised an eyebrow.

'How so?"

"He wanted to inlay the gems in a specific way, after fusing two different gems together." Nepgear shrugged his shoulders. 'He was still working on them when I got there, so that's why I got here so late." Turning away, Nepgear headed towards nave of the church. "I'm going to hand this to Mina so that preparations are complete." Before Nepgear left, he turned around and smiled at Uni. "By the way, you look beautiful, Uni." Speechless, Uni watched Nepgear walk away.

Uni felt her cheeks. Once again, her face was red, but this time her cheeks were really warm.

" _Oh, she's still here."_

" _Hey, why don't we ask her if she's single."_ Ignoring the women behind her, Uni walked into the church and sat down at a pew, leaning her elbows against her knees.

"...What was I supposed to say to that?"

* * *

The organ player at the back of the church, who looked similar to the man who worked at the Chizza stand at Super NintenLand, started the music as all the guests stood up.

White Heart was already waiting at the altar, wearing a traditional Loweean kimono. Kneeling on top of a cushion, the CPU of Lowee sat still as a statue as the music played on. The soon-to-be-bride wore a hat that was similar to Blanc's regular one, but was covered in jewelry and other shiny gems, making it look more like a crown than a hat.

The giant doors at the other end of the room flung open, revealing Rom, Ram and Green Heart. Rom and Ram walked forward, tossing light blue and pink petals into the air. The twins wore matching puffy dresses that made them look like adorable muffins. Green Heart calmly walked down the aisle, holding a bouquet. The other bride-to-be wore a wedding dress that many Leanboxeans wore, her hair was styled the same way as she regularly wore it but the back of her hair was tied into a ponytail. Vert's face was covered by a white veil that matched her white dress accented with green. As she strolled down the aisle, Chika held her arm, trying to let her tears flow and ruin her green dress. Behind them was Neptune, who wore a light pink dress that looked similar to a tutu while next to her was Noire, who wore a blue dress that had black accents with a tiny tiara on her head. The two CPUs gripped onto the ends of Vert's dress, preventing it from dragging across the ground. Next came Uni, who also scattered the ground with black rose petals. Finally came Nepgear, who carried two rings, identical to each other except for the color of the body, one light white and the other light green, on top of a dark red pillow.

Once Green Heart had reached the altar, White Heart opened her eyes, her cheeks dusted a bright red and a welcoming shine in her eyes. Green Heart lowered her head, a faint smile covered by the veil.

White Heart stood up, balancing herself and the heavy-looking hat gracefully. Nodding to each other, White Heart and Green Heart turned to the priest, who was Mina. Clearing her throat, Mina took a deep breath.

"We have gathered here today to celebrate the union between not only two lovers, but the lands of Lowee and Leanbox..." As Mina continued with speech, Uni glanced around. Tiny cameras glided around the inside of the church, taking multiple angles of the wedding while broadcasting and streaming the event throughout Gamindustri. Eventually, Uni's gaze landed on Nepgear, who sat across from her. Yawning, Nepgear looked to the side to cover his mouth, noticing Uni's stare. Quietly, Uni waved in order to make the exchange coincidental and not awkward. Nepgear smiled and waved back at his friend.

Green Heart and White Heart stared at each other, now holding hands.

"Lady Vert, CPU of Leanbox, do you take White Heart as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do…" A small giggle could be heard from Green Heart as Mina turned to White Heart.

"Lady Blanc, CPU of Lowee, do you take Green Heart as your lawfully wedded wife?" A grin appeared on White Heart's face as she stared happily at Green Heart.

"I do."

"If you wish to object to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace." No one looked around to see if anyone objected. Sighing in relief, Mina nodded.

"Now, Lady Blanc. Lady Vert. You may-"

 _*SLAM*_

" **Hold it!"** All eyes looked down the aisle to see a group of men at the now busted door. Half of the group held banners that said, "Hail Lady White Heart, the goddess of small breasts!" and the other half carried banners that said, "Hail Lady Green Heart, the goddess of bountiful mounds!"

Before security could impede them, the group ran towards the aisle stopping short of Uni and Nepgear's pew.

" **We object to this marriage!"** Gasps of surprise, especially from White Heart and Green Heart erupted from the guests as one man walked forward. Uni recognized the man immediately. It was the perverted thin nerd from Super NintenLand.

"Wh-Why would you object to such a beautiful event!?" Green Heart grabbed onto White Heart's hands, her lips trembling. The nerd pushed his glasses up his nose.

"You see… we are the Blanc Fanclub and Vert Fanclub respectively…" The nerd's glasses was obscured by a glare. "And we do not condone of this!" Nepgear attempted to step forward, but then a large number of the fanclub members pulled blasters out of nowhere, pointing it at him. "Ah, you see. I knew that you would act up, young man. So, we planned ahead." Mina widened her eyes in fear.

"H-How did you get those in here!? This is neutral territory." The nerd chuckled.

"Oh we don't approve of violence," The nerd smirked. "...But, we can still ruin this marriage by dirtying the couple!" Suddenly, all the fanclub members held out their blasters further, revealing a liquid substance under the barrels of the blasters.

"That's…" White Heart pulled Green Heart closer to her.

"Exactly, my beloved goddess. It's ink." The nerd pulled out his own blaster and pointed at the lovebirds. "Now if you excuse, I cannot allow this marriage to continue." White Heart covered Green Heart with her body, the CPU's back against the blaster.

"Blanc!? No, what are you doing!?"

"I won't let this bastard ruin your dress, not with how beautiful you look right now!" Green Heart's face softened.

"Blanc…" The nerd laughed, not maniacally, but pervertedly.

"Now, let's see how Lady White Heart looks covered in my special white ink!" White Heart closed her eyes as the trigger was pulled. The gunshot could be heard, but the CPU felt no impact.

"Kyaa!" The sound of a thud could be heard as footsteps followed from behind. White Heart pulled herself away from Green Heart to see Uni lying on the ground, a splotch of white ink all over dress.

"Uni!? Are you okay?" Nepgear was already trying to lift Uni to a sitting position while Noire glared at the fans.

"Nepgear… my dress…" Uni struggled to sit up and fell limp in his arms. "It was only a rental… and it smells...like squid." Noire clenched her hand into a fist.

"You…" Noire raised her hand, ready to summon her weapon when she felt an aura beside her. "What… is-!" Holding onto Uni, Nepgear's body began to emit a divine light. "Nepgear!?"

"Ruining my friends' marriage is one thing…" Nepgear raised his head, revealing the one thing that no one, not even Neptune had ever seen on his face. Anger. "But hurting Uni is another!" Caressing Uni's hair, Nepgear pressed his lips a surprised Uni.

"Wh-!" Noire stared, mouth open wide, other guests let out sounds of surprise and awe. Neptune had a blank look on her face. White Heart heard the sound of a camera. Looking behind her, Green Heart was holding a digital camera.

"Oi." Green Heart looked at her fiancee in nervousness.

"Y-Yes?" White Heart reached into her kimono and pulled out a camcorder. Before asking how White Heart was able to produce such a device from under her clothes, Green Heart remembered that Blanc has had many kimonos that have hidden pockets.

"Wanna share info later?" White Heart gave her wife-to-be a thumbs up. Smiling, Green Heart nodded.

"Let's." The couple began their fun little couple activity as Nepgear pulled away from Uni.

"Don't worry, Uni. I won't let this end in disaster." Standing up, Nepgear stopped emitting the light, but rather, it transferred over to his eyes.

"Nepgear?" Uni placed a hand over her lips, her fingers grazing against the tingling sensation. In fact, Uni was absolutely positive that her cheeks were red.

"I won't forgive for this… Not now…"

Nepgear raised his hand. Uni got to her feet. Neptune crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"What are you…?"

"Not ever…" Neptune looked up before everyone was distracted by the sudden light above that appeared above Nepgear.

"That's…"

A Sharicite descended into his palm. Holding his arm shoulder level, both Nepgear's eyes and the gem stored with a CPU's power resonated with each other. A proud smile found it's way onto Neptune's face, her eyes shining bright as her smile.

...Go get em' Nep Jr.!"

" _Not in this lifetime!"_ Nepgear thrusted the Sharicite towards his heart, the contact engulfing him in a pillar of rainbow colored light that shot up to the ceiling. Despite the blinding light, no one could look away. Noire held onto Uni as the pillar was exuding a strong force, creating a draft, pushing dresses and loose clothing aside. Green Heart's camera was flashing so much that it blending into the pillar of light. The ground shook lightly, causing some of the people inside to drop to their knees.

The pillar of light froze and reversed its direction, creating a small dome at the ground. Once all the light flowed into the dome, the Nepgear-sized ball of light stayed stagnant for a couple of seconds. People stepped forward, staring at the ball of light in curiousity. Neptune shook her head, pushing Histoire behind her.

"Might wanna be careful." Four small triangular butterfly wings sprouted out of the ball of light and the dome began to shrink. Expanding exponentially, the dome burst and created sparkles of light that looked similar to snowflakes to cascade down throughout the room.

Crouched over on the floor where Nepgear was once standing was a figure. Long lilac hair and a white bodysuit were the first prominent features. The butterfly wings at the figure's back extended and the figure floated into the air. More details were made clear, such as the the purple accents on the bodysuit and the rounded hairclip that replaced Nepgear's d-pad shaped one. Finally, the figure's frame was more slender and a tiny bit smaller than Nepgear's human build, and the most prominent and alluring trait, especially to the fanclub members…

"Why does Nepgear's HDD form have breasts!?" Uni asked the question that everyone, except the fanclub members, was asking. "Actually, why is Nepgear a girl!?" Neptune patted Uni on the shoulder as Histoire floated next to the Candidate's head.

"HDD can cause create vast differences between a CPU's Human and HDD form. For example, Neptune is a bubbly idiot," The Planeptune CPU pouted, but Histoire continued. "However, in HDD, Neptune is calm and mature." Neptune hugged Histoire in happiness. Histoire sighed. "Case in point." Uni turned back to the divine girl that was once Nepgear. The girl straightened her back and opened her eyes, revealing her irises to be a light blue with a white power symbol.

" _...Purple Sister, transformation complete."_ The fanclub members "Oooh"'d and drooled over the now christened Purple Sister. Purple Sister raised her hand, a white gunblade materializing in her hand. "You horrible people… interrupting a beautiful congregation such as this." Purple Sister swung her gunblade and pointed at them. "I will not allow to stop it!" The nerd stepped backwards and hesitatingly pointed the ink pistol at the CPU Candidate.

"If…" Purple Sister pulled her gunblade backwards and swung across the ground.

"Slash Wave!" A wave of wind kicked up the nerds and threw them out of the church. Immediately, IF and Kei shut the doors while Chika yelled at them for attempting to ruin "her beloved Vert's happiness". Purple Sister turned around and nodded to Mina, who, after sweatdropping, cleared her throat, causing White Heart and Green Heart to put away their recording equipment.

"Where was I... Oh yes. Lady Blanc, Lady Vert. You may kiss the bride." The two CPUs immediately wrapped each other in a warm embrace and kissed each other. Smiling, Purple Sister touched down on the ground, dematerializing her weapon and walked over to Neptune and Uni. However, as soon as she took a step forward, Purple Sister flinched and shined a bright light, reverting back to Nepgear. Stretching out his arm, a small, pained smile formed itself on Nepgear's face as he stumbled and collapsed on the floor.

"Nepgear!?"

"Nep Jr.!?"

* * *

After Nepgear's collapse and the fanclub riot, the rest of the wedding ended without any harm. While Nepgear was recovering from what Histoire and Compa said as "using all of his energy," the rest of the guests were moved to a ballroom in Lowee's Basilicom, where the celebration party for the union of Lowee and Leanbox was held.

Balloons, streamers and plenty of other decorations were hung around the walls and ceiling of the ballroom. Chibi ice sculptures of Blanc and Vert, designed and inspired by Rom and Ram's drawings, were placed on each table and surrounding the the ice sculptures was a variety of flowers that connected together to make a ring.

Dinner had already been served and people enjoyed listening Mina's heartfelt speech for Blanc's happiness and laughed at Chika's bawling and threats to Blanc's health should she betray Vert, such as swallowing a thousand needles or getting kicked by a horse and dying.

Currently, Blanc and Vert were pulled aside, receiving blessings and congratulations for their marriage. IF and Compa were sitting at a table nearby the dance floor, watching the guests enjoy themselves. Chika was blowing her nose as Mina patted her in the back, asking Kei for another box of tissues. Histoire was floating around, making sure that no one was in danger of hurting themselves. Rom and Ram were at the chocolate fountain, dipping their favorite snacks into the fountain and chomping down. Neptune was doing something similar, but she was across the desert table, chowing down on cookies, cakes, and other sweets, especially the Blanc Manju pudding that was specifically made for this event.

Meanwhile, Uni and Noire were sitting at the table reserved for CPUs. IF and Compa were seated there as well, but they had moved since they wanted to dance for a bit. Uni was staring at the mont blanc in front of her, playing with it with her fork. Worried, Noire moved her chair closer to Uni.

"Uni, are you alright?" Uni had changed her dress to modest grey one since her original one was being cleaned. The girl cut the desert in half before putting her fork down.

"Mm…" Sighing, Uni pushed her plate aside, folded her arms across her desk and placed her head on them. Not wanting to leave her sister, Noire placed rubbed Uni's back.

"Don't worry, Nepgear will be fine. He's just tired." Memoires of what happened before Nepgear went HDD resurfaced in Uni's mind, causing the girl to blush red and bury her head in her arms.

"Hey, Nowa~!" Eye twitching, Noire whipped her head around to glare at Neptune.

"Don't call me that!... Anyways, what do you want?" Noire continued to pat Uni on the back as Neptune watched.

"The dessert table is gonna be restocked! Come on, we gotta get some more delish sweeties!" Pausing to glance at Uni, Neptune grinned as she looked at the door that just opened from across the room. "Uni, guess what?" Uni lifted her head with an exhausted expression on her face.

"...What?" Following Neptune's gestures, Uni turned around to see Nepgear, not in HDD, walk unsteadily into the room. Looking around, the boy spotted the punch bowl from across the room and walked towards the refreshments as in a trance. "Nepgear…" Looking back, Uni whipped her head back and forth to see that Neptune and Noire were gone.

"Hey, let me go!" Uni could barely see her sister being dragged through the crowd and past Nepgear, who stopped to look at them before continuing his walk towards the punch bowl. Standing up, Uni picked up her empty cup and followed Nepgear to the punch bowl.

When Uni arrived, Nepgear had already filled his cup and was in the process of draining it. The girl was able to take note of Nepgear's outfit changes.

Since his suit was covered in ink, Nepgear exchanged the upper half of his outfit for a white dress shirt and a light purple vest, which strangely similar to a butler's vest. Fortunately, Nepgear now wore his pudding pin over his heart and his hair was loosely tied.

Once she waa done examining Nepgear's outfit, the boy had finished his cup and was dipping the ladle for another.

"Wanna fill mine up too?" Glancing to the side, Nepgear wearily smiled as Uni scratched her cheek and extended her arm.

"Uni…"

* * *

Nepgear revealed that he had awoken at the beginning of the party and he was too weak to move. So, Compa and Histoire brought Nepgear dinner, with Neptune barging in once in a while to check up on him and bring him dessert she didn't want.

Since they could barely hear each other over the roar of the party,Uni guided Nepgear to a quiet balcony. The balcony revealed the starry night sky and the full moon. Nepgear leaned against the railing, staring up at the moon.

"Uni?" The girl walked up to the railing and leaned her back against the railing, glancing at Nepgear's features. Illuminated by the moonlight, Nepgear reached for the glowing orb in the sky before looking at its reflection in his punch. Glancing at his friend, Nepgear flashed a weary smile. "Is you dress okay?" Uni raised an eyebrow.

"You're worried about _that_?" Shaking her head, Uni took a sip of out of her cup and stared at the rest of the scenery below them.

Underneath the beautiful night sky, whose stars sparkled brighter in the chilly land of Lowee, was a frozen lake. The lake glistened under the moonlight and the land around the lake was covered in beautiful ice blue flowers.

"Whoa… what are those…" Nepgear glanced at the scenery and nodded.

"Forsalis Flora, native to Lowee. They thrive off of the frozen climate and use the cold as energy to make light blue hue. They are also cool to the touch, but not frozen cold but they feel… like the air that you feel when opening a freezer." Uni blinked as she watched the icy blue flora bloom.

"They're beautiful… Hey, how did you know that?" Nepgear chuckled.

"I read about them once when I was in Lowee way back, but apparently they're super rare." Gesturing to the lakeside garden, Nepgear smiled. "It goes to show how much Lowee cares about its country, going as far as to hold onto so many of them." Uni bit her lip; she had to ask him now, or else she might never get to ask again.

"Speaking of caring…" Uni fiddled with the cup in her hand. "How did it feel to go HDD?" The girl tried her best not to remember the scene before Nepgear's transformation. However, her efforts were shown as her ears and cheeks blushed a deep red. Nepgear showed concern over Uni's face, then looked at the railing. There was snow.

"Well…" Uni turned away to help herself stop blushing, trembling in embarrassment. Nepgear, the ever living embodiment of caring, removed his vest and tip toed over to his companion.

"Huh?" Uni moved her hands off her face to find Nepgear's vest over her shoulders and his arms wrapped around her waist. "Wha…" Now her face blushed harder. "What are you…" Nepgear pressed his cheek against hers, the contrast of Nepgear's somewhat cold face and Uni's extremely warm face causing a strange sensation in Uni's heart. "What are you…"

"You looked cold." Smiling, Nepgear closed his eyes.

" _He's so close!"_

"I'm having trouble remembering it." Uni blinked her eyes, confused.

"Really?" Nepgear nodded as Uni's heart faltered.

"All I remember is seeing you lying on the ground, covered in that icky… ink. And feeling really angry." Nepgear pulled Uni closer, but the girl looked away, upset that the person who took her first kiss doesn't even remember it.

"...Angry?" Uni felt Nepgear's arms securing her in place.

"And I think I know why…" Nepgear turned Uni around, smiling.

"Wh-What is it?" The boy's smile grew bigger.

"It's because I love you, Uni." At that moment, everything around Uni stopped. Mind, heart, not literally, and body. Nepgear's words echoed in the girl's mind, her mouth slightly opened.

Nepgear tilted his head, slightly confused and worried at Uni's lack of response. Unfortunately, Nepgear has a weird perception of love, getting most of his experience on the subject from Neptune and Compa, usually from hugs and other fluffy kinds of affection. Unbeknownst to the Lastation Candidate, Nepgear had professed the love of their _friendship_.

"Uni?" The girl in question had lowered head and Nepgear leaned in, trying to get a closer look. Uni's head suddenly snapped up, colliding with Nepgear's and sending him stumbling onto the railing. "What the goo-" Nepgear turned around to see Uni's eyes shine a familiar rainbow light. "Aaaaaaaah!"

A pillar of light shot into the sky, piercing the clouds that happened to be nearby while Nepgear's scream followed suit.

* * *

Opening his eyes, Nepgear found himself in freefall… over the frozen lake. The sudden pillar of light had knocked him up high

"Uh… Oh! The Gear-Wing!." Nepgear reached for his d-pad hairclip only to find it was not on him. Surprised, Nepgear immediately contorted his body so that he was facing the Basilicom. Curling up, Nepgear stretched his arm forwards, only to find himself not moving at all.

"My boots!" Nepgear looked down to see his favorite pair of boots replaced by a pair of dress shoes. Beginning to panic, Nepgear remembered one critical trait.

"Oh right! I can go HDD now!" With his arm still outstretched, Nepgear closed his eyes. After a second, he opened them to find himself still falling in his normal form. "Oh… no…" Nepgear closed his eyes as he fell towards the frozen surface.

"Nepgear!" As the boy opened his eyes, Nepgear opened his eyes to see a figure approaching him from Lowee's Basilicom. The figure grabbed onto Nepgear and the two hurtled towards the garden of icy flowers. The impact knocked the wind out of Nepgear and sent in and out of subconsciousness. "He… o'r… ay?

"Ngh…" Negear could feel something similar to the air the comes out of an open freezer on his back. Dizzy, Nepgear could barely make out the night sky as the stars would swirl around a large yellow orb, as if hypnotizing him.

"...gear?" The boy felt a gentle hand on his cheeks, keeping his head from spinning in circles. "Hey…" Closing his eyes, Nepgear could feel another pressure around his stomach, as if someone was sitting on him.

"What…" Eventually, Nepgear's head stopped spinning. Once he was able to get his bearings, Nepgear open his eyes and saw a figure, covering his view of the moon.

"Ah, Nepgear." The figure had Uni's voice, but he couldn't see anything since the moon shaded her body. "You alright?" Nepgear nodded and attempted to sit, the figure shifting in order to let him do so.

"Yeah, thanks…" Nepgear widened his eyes. "...Uni?" The girl in front of him blinked her emerald eyes. Nepgear could clearly see her now. The girl who he knew was Uni was drastically different from what he always saw. Snow white hair that was tied into drill-like twintails, black body suit that looked similar to a CPU's and, once again, her mesmerising eyes.

"Wh-What?" Following Nepgear's gaze, Uni suddenly self-conscious and covered herself with her arms. "What are you looking at!?" Nepgear shook his head.

"Nothing…" Sighing in relief, Uni grabbed onto Nepgear's shoulders, pulling his face closer to hers.

"Nepgear…" Uni's eyes shifted from concerned to serious. "Did you mean it?" Blinking his eyes, Nepgear leaned backwards, intimidated, only for Uni to pull him back into place.

"Me-mean what?" Uni narrowed her eyes.

"Did you mean that you loved me!?" Nepgear sweatdropped as Uni's face flushed a bright red.

"I-I did!" Uni's mouth slowly curved into a smile, wrapping her arms around Nepgear's neck. Flustered and confused, Nepgear's eyes became swirls. "After all, you're my best friends!" Uni froze.

"Huh." Uni pulled away from Nepgear, her eyes becoming dull and shocked. "What." Nepgear held his arms in a fashion similar to "I give up."

"You are! You mean so much to me, of course I'd love you." Uni took a deep breath, as she did so, she flashed a bright light and returned to her normal form, and sighed. Leaning her head on Nepgear's shoulder, Uni hugged Nepgear again.

"Geez… don't say it like that then…" The two sat there, the icey flowers swaying from a small breeze. Uni pressed her lips together and tightened her grip on Nepgear's shoulders. "Hey Nepgear."

"Yea- Whoa!" Uni pushed Nepgear onto the ground so that she was over the boy. Uni pushed herself up a bit so that her face hovered over Nepgear. "Uni, what are you…" Uni's face revealed her seriousness, alongside a faded blush.

"Nepgear… I'm going to say this once." Uni looked up to the flowers in front of her, two of them leaning on top of each other, their light blue hues synchronized. Nodding, Uni's unwavering ruby red eyes stared directly into Nepgear's shaking purple amethyst eyes. "I love you." Unable to bear his gaze, Uni dropped her head onto Nepgear's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "From your smile… your constant concern… even your bashfulness… I love it all."

"U-"

"I'm not done yet." Nepgear piped down as Uni blanketed Nepgear's vest over them. "I don't mean the love that you meant, not as friends. I love you as a person, as a man, as… you."

"But… I thought that I was your rival?" Uni chuckled to herself.

"I did too, but… every time I tried to thinks so, I would regret it." Uni raised her head, cupping Nepgear's face with her hand. "This is my resolve and nothing will change it."

"Uni…" Before he could say anything, Uni rolled off of Nepgear, her arms forcing Nepgear to stare at her face.

"I don't need an answer, not yet." Uni glanced away. " _Because my heart isn't ready yet…"_ Smiling, Uni played with Nepgear's ponytail. "Let's just stay like this for now…"

Eyes wide, Nepgear couldn't muster the courage to say anything, opting to nodding his head and lying there.

* * *

"So that's where they went…" Nepgear's d-pad in her hands, Purple Heart stood on the balcony that Nepgear and Uni were before, watching the two lie in Blanc's Frozen Flower Garden. Black Heart stood next to her, pride in her eyes.

"Uni finally gained HDD…" Purple Heart pointed at the two Candidates lying across from them.

"Is that all you're noticing?" Black Heart shrugged her shoulders.

"Who Uni loves is not my business." Smirking at the hard-eyed Purple Heart, Black Heart turned away and headed towards the balcony entrance. "You should too, after all Nepgear isn't gonna be by himself forever."

"Hm…" Black Heart stopped walking as White Heart and Green Heart appeared at the balcony.

"Blanc, Vert." Hand in hand, the two brides walked over to Purple Heart. Letting go of her lover, White Heart walked up to her closest friend.

"Hey." Purple Heart glanced at White Heart for a second. "Don't be upset, Nepgear's a growing boy." Patting her on the back, White Heart smiled. "Vert and I are going on our honeymoon, and Mina's going to a forced vacation. Can I ask you to watch over Rom and Ram for me?" Purple Heart nodded, a small smile on her face.

"You don't mind that I teach them new pranks?" White Heart sighed.

"Just don't make them outrageous ones." White Heart held out a fist and Purple Heart bumped hers against the other CPU's.

"No promises." Meanwhile, Green Heart was swaying back and forth, humming a tune that came from a song that Blanc from sometime ago.

"Vert, you seem excited." Green Heart bounced on her feet, her assets following as well.

"Of course~. On this honeymoon, Blanc and I have come to a conclusion." Black Heart raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And what would that be?" A small blush formed on Green Heart's face.

"We're going to prepare ourselves to have a child~!" Stuttering, Black Heart backed away as literal hearts formed around the CPU. Meanwhile, White Heart sighed, embarrassed at her wife's antics.

"...Vert wants me to have the child." Purple Heart chuckled and patted White Heart on the back.

"Good luck with that."

"Yeah…"


	5. Epilogue

Epilogue

* * *

"Alright, everything's ready!" Nepgear pulled on the new jacket he received from Compa, it was inspired by this flight jacket, but was made for casual wear rather than for formal or militaristic use. Nepgear's phone rang, revealing he had a new message. It was from Uni.

" _Nepgear, I'm at Lowee with the kids. So come on over already." -Uni_

It had been three years since Blanc and Vert were married. The two did not waste time in making their promise a reality and in a year., they had a child.

" _What's her name?" Nepgear cooed at the energetic baby in Vert's arms, the blonde haired baby with Blanc's eyes reached out to her mother, who affectionately cuddled her._

" _Peashy." Blanc appeared beside Nepgear, who held her arms out to Peashy. An exhausted Vert gratefully passed their daughter over to her wife and elegantly collapsed onto the armchair behind her._

Nepgear smiled at the memory. Rom and Ram were ecstatic when Peashy was born, the two planned out at least five months of things they could do when Peashy was able to walk and talk.

"Alright, I'm on my way." Nepgear typed in the message. As he finished typing the message, Nepgear looked at his desk. The two frames that were on his desk seemingly multiplied. There was a white frame of Nepgear and Neptune standing next the newly wedded Blanc and Vert. Another one was of all the CPUs crowding around Vert as she held the child in her hospital bed. Against Vert's hopes, she was the one to give birth to Peashy, not Blanc. However, that didn't keep the CPU from being the most affectionate woman Nepgear had ever seen.

Another picture was of Neptune, IF and Compa as the nurse-in-training had finally obtained her nursing degree. Nepgear wasn't able to attend since he was sick, but he happy for the girl nonetheless.

The picture of him, Neptune, IF, Compa and Histoire was still there. Nepgear smiled at the frame before looking at the last one.

It had Nepgear, Uni, Rom and Ram from their time at Super NintenLand. Rom and Ram were eating Chizzas while Uni had gotten herself an ice cream cone. Nepgear was smiling from behind Rom and Ram with a cup of soda in his hand. This photograph was the one to finally fill in the empty frame that sat on his desk when Uni first visited.

Taking a deep breath, Nepgear pressed "Send" on the message and and hit the "Home" button. When his phone reached the wallpaper, Nepgear smiled even more.

It was a picture of Nepgear and Uni. They had gone to a convention in Lastation, who they found someone similar to Noire, but they couldn't tell if it was her and dropped it. Both of the Candidates were smiling, their left hands intertwined with each other. Uni held up the phone with her right hand while Nepgear used his right arm to wrap his arm around Uni, pulling her close to him. Although it was faint, Nepgear could see the faint blushes on their cheeks.

Locking his phone, Nepgear smiled at the memory.

The memory of their first date.

"...Alright!" Taking a deep breath, Nepgear stepped out of his room, looking at the picture frames one last time. "I'm going!"

The door closed and the window let the sun flow into the room, its soft light caressing the pictures.

It was sunny and it was a perfect day to spend outside on a picnic with your friends.

* * *

 _Friends - End_


End file.
